txbvavy  of  Che  theological  ^eromarjp 


PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of  the 
Rev.  John  E.  Wledlnger 

BX  5133    .H46  W4  1910 
Henson,  Hensley,  1863-1947. 
Westminster  sermons 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/westminstersermoOOhens 


WESTMINSTER  SERMONS 


WESTMINSTEK^SERMONS 


H.    HENSLEY   HENSON,  D.D. 

AUTHOR  OF  "  PREACHING  TO  THE  TIMES." 


NEW  YORK 

A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON 
3  &  5  WEST  EIGHTEENTH  STREET 
1910 


PREFACE 


The  sermons  here  published  were  all,  with  a  single 
exception,  preached  at  Westminster,  either  in  the 
Abbey  or  in  S.  Margaret's,  between  the  years  1904 
and  1910.  The  solitary  exception  is  the  sermon, 
"  A  Law  of  Liberty,"  which  was  preached  in  S.  Cuth- 
bert's,  Edinburgh,  on  the  invitation  of  the  minister, 
Dr.  McGregor.  To  the  sermons  on  "  Anglicanism " 
I  have  added  three  papers,  which  treat  of  some  aspects 
of  the  urgent  question  of  "  Reunion,"  which  could  not 
easily  be  dealt  with  in  the  pulpit. 

Such  unity  as  this  volume  possesses  consists  in  the 
conception  of  Christianity  which  it  exhibits  from 
various  points  of  view,  and  which,  as  I  am  persuaded, 
is  properly  characteristic  of  the  National  Church  of 
England,  though,  in  recent  years,  obscured  and 
generally  disowned.  On  the  recovery  and  re-establish- 
ment of  the  older  Anglicanism  much  depends.  The 
question  of  Reunion,  which  has  filled  so  large  a  place 
in  religious  discussions  during  recent  years,  would  at 
once  enter  a  more  hopeful  phase,  if  the  prohibitive 
condition  now  insisted  upon  by  Anglican  authorities 
(in  spite  of  Anglican  history  which  might  seem  to 
disallow  it  as  involving  self-stultification)  were  aban- 
doned ;  and  negotiations  with  the  other  Reformed 
Churches  were  undertaken  on  a  basis  of  recognized 


v 


Preface 


Christian  Fraternity.  Such  recognition,  however, 
involves  "  Intercommunion,"  and  in  the  present 
state  of  feeling  among  the  Anglican  clergy  necessitates 
a  large  sacrifice  of  prejudices  and  preferences.  Yet 
I  do  not  despair  of  persuading  my  brethren  to  make 
that  sacrifice,  if  once  they  will  consent  to  consider 
with  open  minds  the  situation  in  which  we  stand  as 
Christians,  and  the  special  responsibilities  which  rest 
on  us  as  English  Churchmen. 

H.  H.  H. 

Westminster  Abbey, 
February  16,  1910. 


I 


vi 


CONTENTS 


i 

ANGLICANISM 

PAGE 

r.     CHRISTIAN  HISTORY  A  TONIC  FOR  FAILING  HEARTS  II 

II.     THE  HISTORIC  EPISCOPATE  AND  INTERCOMMUNION  24 

III.  THINGS  ESSENTIAL  AND  NON-ESSENTIAL         .         .  40 

IV.  INTERCOMMUNION  AND  REUNION  ....  45 
V.     ANGLICANISM  AND  REUNION            ....  63 

VI.     THE  ORIGINAL  GOSPEL   85 

VII.  S.  CYPRIAN.   97 

VIII.  RICHARD  BAXTER   112 

II 

THEOLOGICAL  AND  ECCLESIASTICAL 

IX.  JESUS  OR  CHRIST?   127 

X.  OLD  RELIGION  AND  NEW  THEOLOGY       .         .         .  I43 

XI.  THE  FAILURE  OF  TRADITION   155 

XII.  RABBI NISM  AND  FRATERNITY           ....  l66 

XIII.  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH           .         .          .         .  1 76 

XIV.  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  SPIRIT  .  .  .  .  .  1 87 
XV.     THE  BIBLE   1 97 

XVI.     THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY   20g 

vii 


Contents 


in 

SOCIAL  AND  NATIONAL 

PAGE 

XVII.     CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIETY         ....  223 

XVIII.     THE  SOCIAL  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  .         .  233 
XIX.     THE  CHRISTIAN'S  DUTY  TO  RESPECT  THE  GENERAL 

CONSCIENCE   245 

XX.     THE  NOBILITY  OF  THE  BER02ANS         .          .         .  257 

XXI.  THE  REDEMPTION  OF  NATIONALITY      .         .         .  269 

XXII.  CHRIST  AND  NATIONALITY   280 

XXIII.  A  LAW  OF  LIBERTY   289 

XXIV.  ANARCHISM   302 


viii 


I 

ANGLICANISM 


9 


I 


CHRISTIAN  HISTORY  A  TONIC  FOR  FAILING 
HEARTS1 

GOD  IS  OUR  REFUGE  AND  STRENGTH, 
A  VERY  PRESENT  HELP  IN  TROUBLE, 

THEREFORE     WILL    WE    NOT    FEAR,     THOUGH    THE     EARTH  DO 
CHANGE, 

AND    THOUGH    THE    MOUNTAINS    BE    MOVED    IN    THE    HEART  OF 
THE  SEAS ; 

THOUGH  THE  WATERS  THEREOF  ROAR  AND  BE  TROUBLED, 
THOUGH  THE  MOUNTAINS  SHAKE  WITH  THE  SWELLING  THEREOF, 

THE  LORD  OF  HOSTS  IS  WITH  US  ; 
THE  GOD  OF  JACOB  IS  OUR  REFUGE. 

Psalm  xlvi.  I — 3,  II. 

Such  words  as  these,  perhaps,  best  serve  to  utter 
what  is  in  our  minds  to-day,  when  we  send  our  thoughts 
far  backwards  over  thirteen  centuries,  and  link  together 
solemn  thanksgiving  with  renewed  endeavours  to  sustain 
and  extend  the  work  of  Christ  in  this  great  capital.  On 
the  whole  I  find  history  a  wonderful  tonic  for  failing 
courage,  and,  perhaps,  this  commemoration  of  the  re- 
founding  of  the  bishopric  of  London  has  fallen  very 
suitably  for  our  needs  in  a  time  of  manifold  anxiety. 
To  speak  only  of  what  will  be  universally  allowed,  I 
may  name  two  subjects  which  have  loomed  large  in 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  the  5th  Sunday 
after  Easter,  May  8,  1904,  on  the  occasion  of  the  1,300th 
anniversary  of  the  re-founding  of  the  Bishopric  of  London. 


II 


Westminster  Sermons 


public  discussion  during  the  last  few  months,  and 
which  unquestionably  have  caused  deep  and  wide- 
spread misgiving  among  sincere  and  thoughtful 
Christian  folk.  The  elaborate  inquiry  into  church 
attendance  throughout  London,  the  results  of  which 
have  been  admirably  summarized  in  the  large  and 
remarkably  cheap  volume  edited  by  Mr.  Mudie  Smith 
and  entitled  "  The  Religious  Life  of  London,"  deepened 
the  depression  caused  by  Mr.  Charles  Booth's 
elaborate  investigations.  Comparison  with  an  earlier 
enumeration  appears  to  show  that  as  the  population  of 
London  increases,  so  the  number  of  worshippers  in  the 
Christian  churches  steadily  diminishes,  and  that  this 
diminution  is  mainly  in  the  congregations  of  the  Church 
of  England.  That  is  a  subject  for  serious  heart-search- 
ing among  us  all,  and  we  all  know  how  heavily  it  rests 
on  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  the  best  and  devoutest 
members  of  all  branches  of  Christ's  Church.  Then, 
alongside  of  this  melancholy  process  of  alienation,  there 
has  been  grave  distress  of  mind  within  the  Christian 
camp  itself,  and  this  subject  also,  as  we  reflect  on  our 
present  situation,  depresses  us  wonderfully.  Therefore 
I  shall  carry  you  all  with  me  when  I  say  that  we  come 
to  our  commemoration  to-day  in  a  time  of  trouble  and 
unrest,  and  in  a  temper  of  natural,  nay,  inevitable, 
dejection. 

Thirteen  centuries  is  a  long  period  as  historians 
reckon  ;  it  is  two-thirds  of  the  Christian  era,  and  yet  it 
does  not  embrace  by  at  least  three  centuries  the  life  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  within  this  island.  We  com- 
memorate the  re-founding  of  a  bishopric,  which  had 
become  extinct  a  century  and  a  half  previously.  The 

12 


Christian  History  for  Failing  Hearts 

circumstances  of  that  restoration  of  Christianity  in 
London  as  we  may  read  them  in  the  record  of  the 
Venerable  Bede,  are  full  of  interest.  We  are  carried  at 
once  into  the  most  terrible  transition-time  which  the 
experience  of  the  Christian  Church  has  known.  The 
earlier  bishopric  of  London  had  formed  part  of  the 
state  system  of  the  christianized  Roman  Empire.  The 
bishop  of  London  obeyed  the  summons  of  Constantine 
to  the  Council  of  Aries  in  314,  and  enough  of  the  history 
of  the  following  century  is  preserved  to  make  us  certain 
that  the  bishops  of  London  took  their  full  part  in  the 
general  life  of  the  Imperial  Church;  and  then  the  Roman 
Empire  fell  before  the  incessant  pressure  of  the  barbarous 
races  on  the  frontiers,  fell  from  within  through  a  series 
of  disasters  and  blunders  which  our  historical  students 
are  still  investigating.  It  requires  rare  gifts  of  insight 
and  imagination  to  realize  what  the  downfall  of  the 
Roman  Empire  meant  to  Christians. 

"  The  failure  of  Roman  civilization  [writes  one  who  was  wont  to 
measure  his  words,  Dean  Church],  its  wreck  and  dissolution  in 
the  barbarian  storms,  was  the  most  astonishing  catastrophe  the 
world  had  yet  seen  in  its  history :  and  those  who  beheld  the 
empire  breaking  up,  as  blow  after  blow  was  struck  more  home, 
ceased  to  look  forward  to  any  future  for  society."1 

The  empire  was  Christian  :  the  barbarians  who 
destroyed  it  were  pagan.  Consider  how  grievous 
perplexities  were  stirred  in  Christian  minds  by  that 
strange  contradiction  of  their  hopes  and  expectations. 
Apparently  the  faith  of  Christ  could  not  hold  its  own 
against  the  powers  of  falsehood  :  the  Church  had  been 
so  closely  bound  up  with  the  system  of  the  empire  that 

1  "Gifts  of  Civilization,"  p.  151. 


13 


Westminster  Sermons 


when  the  empire  perished  the  Church  seemed  to  perish 
with  it.  Then  in  the  most  unlooked-for  manner  the 
temple  of  the  Lord  was  rebuilt,  and  the  long  lines  of 
episcopal  succession  which  are  still  continued  among 
us  were  started.  Take  the  list  of  the  bishops  of  London 
from  Mellitus,  who  received  the  see  in  604,  or,  per- 
haps, more  fairly,  from  Erkenwald,  who  may  be 
regarded  as  the  true  re-founder  of  the  bishopric,  to 
which  he  was  consecrated  by  Archbishop  Theodore 
in  675,  and  read  it  thoughtfully.  Consider  what  is 
implied  in  the  transition  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  names, 
unfamiliar  now  for  the  most  part,  to  the  Norman  names 
which  have  become  literally  household  words  throughout 
the  English-speaking  world.  From  Anglo-Saxon  to 
Norman  certifies  a  religious  revolution  of  a  far-reaching 
character.  It  is  not  in  my  mind  to  make  any  contro- 
versial suggestions.  It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  in  the 
long  conflict  between  the  Churches  of  England  and 
Rome  anything  really  turns  on  the  change  to  which  I 
am  now  alluding.  The  early  English  Church  was  at 
one  with  the  rest  of  western  Christians  in  its  veneration 
for  the  apostolic  see,  and  I  cannot  myself  discover  any 
satisfactory  evidence  of  that  religious  individualism 
which  is  sometimes  claimed  for  it ;  but  all  will  admit 
that  the  feudalised  Church  of  the  mediaeval  epoch,  the 
Church  of  Hildebrand,  Innocent  III.,  and  Boniface 
VIII.,  of  the  great  monastic  orders,  of  the  mendicants, 
of  the  schoolmen,  the  Church  which  survives  among  us 
in  its  superb  architecture,  and  even  in  despite  of  our- 
selves, casts  the  spell  of  its  romantic  charm  on  our  too 
prosaic  and  utility-haunted  minds,  was  with  reference 
to  what  preceded  it  as  much  a  new  thing  as  had  been 

14 


Christian  History  for  Failing  Hearts 

that  older  Church  of  the  English,  which  grew  from 
fresh  beginnings  on  the  ruin-covered  sites  from  which 
the  yet  older  Church  of  the  imperial  province  had 
perished. 

The  theory  of  the  episcopate  was  silently  changed  as 
the  Church  became  organized  on  feudal  lines.  There 
was  grandeur  in  that  mediaeval  conception  of  Christen- 
dom, the  kingdom  of  God  visibly  established  on  the 
earth,  the  nations  entering  into  it  and  owning  glad 
obedience  to  its  divine  authority  ;  but  with  respect  to 
that  conception  also  Time,  the  one  great  teacher  whose 
function  never  is  outgrown,  has  brought  correction  and 
disillusionment.  Pass  down  your  list  of  bishops  for 
five  hundred  years,  and  you  come  to  a  pair  of  names, 
between  which  lies  the  greatest  of  all  the  transitions, 
which,  in  the  course  of  the  thirteen  centuries  which  we 
review  to-day,  the  Church  of  England,  and  therein  the 
Church  of  London,  has  had  to  experience — Edmund 
Bonner,  1540:  Nicholas  Ridley,  1550.  Could  we 
find,  in  the  whole  range  of  our  ecclesiastical  annals, 
two  names  at  once  more  familiar,  and  more  diversely 
suggestive  ?  The  contrast  may  serve  to  indicate  the 
violence  of  the  religious  change  which  had  come  upon 
England.  I  do  not  pass  any  judgment  on  the  traditional 
reputations  of  these  two  bishops  of  London.  It  may 
well  be  the  case  that  the  virulence  of  party  resentment 
has  unduly  blackened  the  name  of  Bonner,  and 
perhaps  the  popular  veneration  for  the  name  of  Ridley 
has  its  strongest  roots  not  in  the  past  but  in  the 
present.  Yet  it  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  the 
Protestant  bishop  of  London,  who  had  previously  been 
one  of  the  prebendaries  appointed  by  Henry  VIII.  to 

15 


Westminster  Sermons 


replace  the  monks  in  Westminster  Abbey,  is  remembered 
as  having  exerted  himself  to  resist  the  rapacity  of 
Edward  VI. 's  courtiers — rapacity,  you  will  remem- 
ber, that  nearly  swept  away  S.  Margaret's  altogether. 

"  Early  in  1553  he  appealed  to  the  young  king,  while  preaching 
before  him  at  Westminster,  to  make  better  provision  for  the 
destitute  London  poor.  After  the  sermon  Edward  VI.  invited 
Ridley  to  give  him  more  detailed  advice.  At  the  bishop's  sugges- 
tion royal  letters  were  sent  inviting  the  co-operation  of  the  lord 
mayor  and  corporation,  and  in  the  result  Christ's  Hospital,  S. 
Thomas's  Hospital,  and  Bethlehem  Hospital  were  founded  jointly 
by  the  king  and  corporation  to  alleviate  the  poverty  of  London." 1 

Bonner  and  Ridley — the  two  names,  standing  in 
our  national  record,  are  symbolic  of  two  conceptions  of 
Christianity,  two  ideals  of  the  Church,  two  theories 
of  the  episcopal  office.  Two  conceptions  so  vitally 
opposed  as  then  seemed  manifest  that  Bonner,  no  doubt 
sincerely,  thought  himself  bound  in  conscience  to  burn 
Ridley  ;  and  Ridley,  with  equal  sincerity,  was  equally 
clear  that  he  must  for  conscience'  sake  imprison  Bon- 
ner !  Yet  there  they  stand  demurely  harmonious  in 
our  list  of  bishops,  like  two  tall  columns,  marking  a 
stricken  field  of  the  long  past,  which  still  attest  the 
conflict  amid  scenes  of  peace.  In  the  transition  from 
medisevalism  to  our  modern  world  how  much  anguish  of 
mind,  collapse  of  faith,  downfall  of  character  came  upon 
the  Church  !  There  was  hopeless  confusion,  intolerable 
scandal :  and  yet  the  failure  of  Christianity,  which  to  a 
disinterested  onlooker  might  have  seemed  imminent,  did 
not  come  ;  and  we  can  see  now,  as  we  calmly  review 
the  course  of  events,  that  we  have  indeed  reason  to 


1  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  Vol.  XLVIIL,  p.  287. 

16 


Christian  History  for  Failing  Hearts 

thank  God  that  the  great  change  came  to  us  English- 
folk  in  suchwise  that  Bonner  and  Ridley  can  stand 
together  on  the  roll  of  the  bishops  of  London.  There 
is  one  more  break  in  the  history  to  which  I  will  call 
your  attention.  It  fills  a  memorable  chapter  in  the 
annals  of  this  famous  Church.  In  1643,  S.  Margaret's 
was  the  scene  of  a  remarkable  event.  The  House  of 
Commons  and  the  Assembly  of  Divines  came  here  and 
with  the  utmost  solemnity  subscribed  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant,  by  which  they  pledged  themselves 
to  "endeavour  the  extirpation  of  popery,  prelacy  (that 
is,  Church  government  by  archbishops,  bishops,  their 
chancellors  and  commissaries,  deans,  deans  and  chap- 
ters, archdeacons,  and  all  ecclesiastical  officers  depend- 
ing on  that  hierarchy)  and  so  forth."  Six  years  later 
the  King  was  beheaded  at  Whitehall,  and  the  bishop 
of  London  was  deprived  of  his  see.  William  Juxon 
was  then  bishop :  he  had  stood  by  Charles  I.  at  the 
scaffold,  and  was  destined  to  place  the  crown  on  the 
head  of  Charles  II.  What  a  transition  is  pinched 
between  those  events  !  The  whole  future  of  the  English 
people  may  fairly  be  said  to  have  been  at  stake  in  that 
tremendous  conflict,  which  settled  finally  that  England 
was  to  be  constitutional  in  polity  and  Protestant  in 
religion.  And,  as  we  review  the  history  calmly,  how 
clear  it  is  to  us  that  we  have  indeed  good  cause  to 
thank  God  that,  in  His  great  mercy  to  our  nation,  the 
continuity  of  national  and  ecclesiastical  development 
was  secured  even  through  the  violent  commotions  of 
that  age !  William  Juxon's  name  covers  a  gap  in 
Anglican  history  and  conceals  what  was  in  truth  a 
religious  revolution.     The  Restoration  settlement  in 


B 


Westminster  Sermons 


Church  and  State  proceeded  on  the  assumption  that  all 
that  had  happened  during  the  years  of  interregnum 
might  be  ignored  ;  and  no  doubt  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.,  in  the  madness  of  that  vehement  reaction 
against  Puritan  ideals  and  Puritan  methods,  which,  for 
a  space,  swept  all  before  it,  it  seemed  evident  that  that 
assumption  was  sufficiently  secure ;  but,  as  we  review 
the  whole  epoch  from  the  standpoint  of  our  time,  we 
can  see  that  the  victory  lay  finally  with  that  cause 
of  ordered  liberty  which,  however  unworthily,  had  been 
championed  by  the  great  Parliament  which  fought  and 
crushed  both  monarchy  and  Church,  and  which  (as  we 
may  be  allowed  to  remember)  used  S.  Margaret's 
habitually  almost  as  its  private  chapel. 

I  have  contented  myself  with  pointing  you  to  a  few 
outstanding  crises,  in  which  the  religion  of  Christ 
among  us  passed  through  great  transitions,  and  received 
altered  aspects.  If  you  pursue  the  line  of  thought  on 
which  our  discourse  has  proceeded,  and  go  behind  the 
mere  external  system  of  English  Christianity,  which  the 
long  line  of  bishops  of  London  so  strikingly  illustrates, 
to  the  beliefs  of  men,  and  the  habits  which  those  beliefs 
inspired,  you  will,  I  am  sure,  be  even  more  impressed 
by  the  indestructible  vitality  of  the  religion  of  Christ. 
What  changes  have  passed  over  Christian  thought  during 
these  thirteen  centuries  !  How  the  standard  of  essential 
truth,  which  has  been  insisted  upon,  has  varied  from 
time  to  time !  How  differently  we  regard  almost  every 
part  of  the  Christian  system  !  How  many  types  and 
measures  of  theology  are  represented  by  the  successive 
bishops  of  London  !  Yet  there  is  a  deep,  continuous 
agreement,  and  the  long  unbroken  chain  is  eloquent  of 

18 


Christian  History  for  Failing  Hearts 

a  spiritual  identity  which  is  inviolate  and  inviolable. 
Some  of  you  will  know  the  noble  sermon  preached  in 
Westminster  Abbey  in  1869  on  "  The  Place  of  the 
Episcopate  in  Christian  History."  The  preacher — it 
was  Dean  Church — dwelt  on  the  value  of  the  historic 
episcopate  in  keeping  alive  in  our  minds,  amid  so  many 
dividing  influences,  the  sense  of  unity. 

"  That  which  has  kept  on  from  age  to  age  this  sense  of  the  one- 
ness of  the  continuous  Christian  body  is,  I  cannot  doubt,  as  far  as 
anything  outward  has  done  it,  the  unfailing  presence  of  the 
episcopate.  There  were  other  influences,  doubtless,  out  of  sight 
and  deeper  ;  but  this  one  was  immediate  and  direct.  If,  in  spite 
of  all  our  differences,  we  all  of  us  feel  ourselves  one  with  the  first 
ages,  one  with  the  Church  universal  of  all  times,  instead  of  an 
entirely  different  body  growing  out  of  it  and  coming  into  its  place, 
it  is  along  these  threads  and  networks  of  the  episcopate  that  the 
secret  agencies  have  travelled,  which  have  kept  alive  the  sentiment 
of  identity,  amid  so  much  that  seemed  to  contradict  and  defy  it."1 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  an 
ardent  episcopalian  to  admit  the  truth  of  all  this. 
Granted  that  in  the  last  three  centuries  God  has  willed 
to  work  through  churches  which  are  otherwise 
organised  than  our  own,  it  yet  remains  the  fact  that 
the  Christianity  professed  by  those  churches  traces  its 
historic  connection  with  the  Church  of  the  Apostles 
through  that  older  society  which  already  for  a  thousand 
years  in  London  had  been  ruled  by  bishops.  Noncon- 
formists, as  well  as  Anglicans,  can,  without  suspicion  of 
disloyalty  to  their  own  principles,  join  in  our  thanks- 
giving to-day.  As  it  would  be  an  unworthy  use  of  this 
commemoration  to  build  on  it  an  advocacy  of  denomi- 
national claims,  sq  also  would  it  be  an  unworthy  plea 
to  justify  any  Christian's  abstention  from  it,  that  he, 

1  "  Pascal  and  other  Sermons,"  p.  104. 

19  B  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


forsooth,  was  not  episcopalian.  We  Churchmen  and 
Nonconformists  are  frankly  above  the  level  of  current 
controversies  to-day,  when,  as  fellow-Christians,  we 
thank  God  for  the  unbroken  continuity  of  Christian 
worship  in  London  through  thirteen  centuries ;  and,  if 
we  have  been  perplexed  and  troubled  by  the  many 
tokens  of  transition  amidst  which  we  live,  surely,  as  we 
recall  that  long  and  various  history,  which  the  line  of 
106  bishops  of  London  effectively  represents,  we  can 
take  heart  again,  and  be  sure  that,  come  what  may, 
Christianity  has  nothing  to  fear.  "  God  is  our  refuge 
and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble.  There- 
fore, will  we  not  fear,  though  the  earth  do  change,  and 
though  the  mountains  be  moved  in  the  heart  of  the 
seas  ;  though  the  waters  thereof  roar  and  be  troubled, 
though  the  mountains  shake  with  the  swelling 
thereof.  .  .  .  The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us ;  the  Ged  of 
Jacob  is  our  refuge." 

From  the  retrospect  with  its  solemn  warnings  and 
large  consolations  we  turn  to  face  the  situation  which 
now  confronts  us  in  London.  We  are  asked  by  the  living 
representative  of  that  long  line  of  bishops  which  links 
the  seventh  century  with  the  twentieth  to  strengthen, 
by  liberal  gifts,  the  work  which  he  directs  and  carries 
on.  May  I  say  that  the  appeal  comes  with  distinctive 
fitness  and  exceptional  force  from  our  present  bishop. 
In  reviewing  the  long  series  of  prelates  who  for  thirteen 
centuries  have  borne  rule  in  London,  it  was  impossible 
to  avoid  estimates  and  comparisons  of  the  men 
themselves.  What  a  richly  varied  company  it  is ! 
Statesmen,  scholars,  organizers,  saints,  are  in  the  list. 
Some  were  popular,  and  some  successful ;   some  were 

20 


Christian  History  for  Failing  Hearts 

neither  popular  nor  successful ;  and  some  were  both. 
Perhaps  the  most  personally  attractive  of  them  all  was 
called  to  endure  the  severest  strokes  of  adverse  fortune. 
I  have  already  named  him — William  Juxon,  who  held 
this  see  for  27  years,  from  1633  to  1660,  and  for 
most  part  of  the  time  was  unable  to  exercise  his 
functions.  Might  we  not  apply  to  his  latest  successor 
the  description  of  Bishop  Juxon  himself,  which  a 
younger  contemporary  has  left  on  record  ; 

"  That  he  was  '  the  delight  of  the  English  nation,  whose  reve- 
rence was  the  only  thing  all  factions  agreed  in,  by  allowing 
that  honour  to  the  sweetness  of  his  manners  that  some  denied  to 
the  sacredness  of  his  function,  being  by  love,  what  another  is  in 
pretence,  the  universal  bishop.'  "* 

You  will  not  resent  this  historical  parallel,  nor  will 
you  dispute  the  special  cogency  of  an  appeal  for  help 
from  one  who  adds  to  his  official  authority  the  weight 
of  ardent  and  arduous  pastoral  labours.  I  think  we 
ought  to  contribute  liberally  to  the  Bishop  of  London's 
Fund,  even  although  it  is  the  case,  and  perhaps  it  must 
be  the  case,  that  we  are  more  than  commonly  perplexed 
on  the  whole  subject  of  religious  methods.  Experience 
suggests  that  we  ought  not  to  be  too  much  depressed 
by  apparent  failure.  Irreligion  sweeps  through  the 
national  life  in  sudden  waves  which  seem  to  be  quite 
irresistible,  but  those  waves  spend  themselves,  and  in 
due  course  it  is  seen  that  the  landscape  of  society  pre- 
serves its  familiar  features.  We  must  not  attach  too 
great  importance  to  the  irreligious  tendency  which  is  at 
present  powerful  among  us,  the  least  mischievous  effects 

1  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  Vol.  XXX.,  p.  234.  The 
quotation  is  from  Lloyd's  "  Memoirs  of  those  that  suffered." 


21 


Westminster  Sermons 


of  which  are  perhaps  those  which  most  easily  arrest 
our  attention  :  desecration  of  the  Lord's  day,  absen- 
teeism from  divine  service,  secularizing  of  the  divine 
service  itself.  These  signs  of  a  failing  convention  may 
be  now,  what  they  certainly  have  been  in  the  past,  the 
tokens  of  religious  transition,  but,  being  such,  they  are 
as  truly  auguries  of  renewed  vitality  as  occasions  for 
searching  of  heart.  "  The  things  that  are  not  seen  are 
eternal "  and  they  can  best  measure  the  forces  of  the 
present  who  look  beyond  the  present  ;  who  by  the 
virtue  of  that  far-ranging  vision  are  strong  to  endure 
obvious  failure  because  they  have  assurance  of  what  is 
not  obvious ;  who  live,  as  was  said  of  a  hero  of  faith  in 
the  olden  time,  "  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible."  The 
Church  of  Christ  has  been,  through  ill  fortune  and 
good,  for  thirteen  centuries,  the  divine  instrument  for 
cleansing  and  lifting  the  life  of  the  English  people ;  in 
spite  of  faults  which  we  must  acknowledge,  and  of 
divisions  which  we  cannot  but  deplore,  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  still  the  best  thing  we  English  people  have 
received  from  the  past.  Woe  to  us,  if  in  despair, 
or  in  disgust,  or,  worst  of  all,  in  mere  idle  dere- 
liction of  a  duty,  which  in  our  hearts  we  own,  we  do 
not  hand  on  in  vigour  and  efficiency  to  the  coming 
time  that  great  gift  which  we  have  received.  By  a 
happy  inspiration,  Mr.  Mudie  Smith  has  prefixed  to 
his  melancholy  record  of  Church  attendance,  some 
words  of  Emerson,  which  may  well  point  the  moral 
of  such  a  sermon  as  this  : — ■ 

"  What  greater  calamity  can  fall  upon  a  nation  than  the  loss  of 
worship  ?  Then  all  things  go  to  decay.  Genius  leaves  the  temple 
to  haunt  the  senate  or  the  market.    Literature  becomes  frivolous. 


22 


Christian  History  for  Failing  Hearts 

Science  is  cold.  The  eye  of  youth  is  not  lighted  by  the  hope  of 
other  worlds,  and  age  is  without  honour.  Society  lives  to  trifles  ; 
and  when  men  die  we  do  not  mention  them." 

The  American  philosopher  speaks  profound  truth  ; 
but,  remember,  there  can  be  no  worship  where  there 
is  no  living  faith  in  a  God,  Whom  men  confess  to  be 
worthy  of  worship,  a  God,  of  Whom  even  now  amid  the 
novel  and  dismaying  circumstances  of  these  latest 
times,  men  may  speak  in  the  language  of  ancient  con- 
viction. "  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very 
present  help  in  trouble  :  therefore  will  we  not  fear 
.  .  .  The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us,  the  God  of  Jacob 
is  our  refuge." 


23 


II 


THE  HISTORIC  EPISCOPATE  AND  INTER- 
COMMUNION1 

i.  The  Church  of  England  at  the  Reformation 
retained  the  episcopal  government.  It  has  been,  and 
will  always  continue  to  be,  matter  of  controversy 
whether  that  episcopate,  which  may  be  said  to  have 
come  into  being  when  Matthew  Parker  was  conse- 
crated, really  satisfied  the  conditions  of  spiritual  validity 
required  by  what  are  generally  called  "  Catholic 
principles."  That  the  consecration  was  performed  by 
men  in  episcopal  orders  is  now  admitted  by  all  candid 
controversialists :  that  the  Edwardine  form  used  can 
be  justified  by  earlier  Christian  precedents  is  equally 
certain  :  that  the  episcopate  thus  created  and  trans- 
mitted has  been  accepted  within  the  Church  of  England, 
and  confirmed  by  Acts  of  Parliament,  may  go  without 
saying.  If,  however,  another  series  of  considerations, 
unquestionably  cogent,  be  admitted,  the  validity  of  the 
English  episcopate  falls  to  the  ground.  Do  Catholic 
principles  really  admit  of  spiritual  validity  attaching 
to  the  proceedings  of  a  hierarchy  in  manifest  schism  ? 
Can  some  early  precedents  really  justify  the  deliberate 
repudiation  of  the  only  authorized  and  long  established 

1  Paper  read  to  "  The  Christian  Conference  "  at  Zion  College 
on  Monday,  January  17,  1910. 


24 


The  Historic  Episcopate 

forms  of  consecration  ?  Is  it  a  safe  assumption 
that  nothing  turns  on  the  avowed  intentions  of  the 
consecrators  ? 

"  I  venture  to  say,"  said  the  Bishop  of  Durham  at 
Islington,  "  that  if  in  order  to  ministerial  grace  a 
sacerdotal  commission,  in  a  sacrificial  and  mediatorial 
sense  of  the  words,  as  distinct  from  a  commission  for 
pastorate  and  leadership,  is  necessary,  the  Pope  was 
right  in  denying  a  valid  ministry  in  our  ministers." 1 
His  lordship  adds  that  our  formula  concerning  for- 
giving and  retaining  sins,  though  "  connected  by  the 
tradition  of  ages  with  a  proper  sacerdothnn,  proves  on 
reflection  to  have  no  essential  connection  with  it." 

It  appears  to  me  neither  candid  nor  reasonable  to 
deny  that  a  very  strong  case  against  the  validity  of 
Anglican  orders  can  be  made  out  on  what  are  called 
"  Catholic  principles."  This  aspect  of  the  subject, 
however,  has  no  interest  for  Protestants,  who  are  under 
no  necessity  to  question  the  validity  of  the  Anglican 
episcopate  :  it  is  only  mentioned  in  order  to  remind 
those  Anglicans  who  are  disposed  to  repudiate  the  non- 
episcopal  ministries  of  the  other  Protestant  Churches, 
that  they  are  turning  their  backs  on  the  only  Christians 
in  the  world  who  have  no  doubt  as  to  the  validity  of 
Anglican  orders. 

2.  The  phrase  "the  historic  episcopate,"  borrowed 
from  the  resolutions  of  the  Anglican  Conference  of 
1888,  is  properly  absurd  as  used  to  indicate  the  Anglican 
variety  of  episcopacy.  What  is  that  episcopate  which 
alone  is  entitled  to  the  description  historic  ?  Assuredly 


1  The  Record,  January  14,  1910. 

25 


Westminster  Sermons 


no  single  variety  of  episcopacy  has  prevailed  through- 
out Christian  history.  Out  of  the  many  episcopal 
types,  which  is  entitled  to  the  homage  of  modern 
Christians  ?  Is  it  the  presbyter  bishop  of  the  pastoral 
epistles  and  S.  Clement  of  Rome  ?  or  the  monarchical 
bishop  of  S.  Ignatius  and  S.  Cyprian  ?  or  the  tribal 
bishop  of  the  Celtic  Church  ?  or  the  feudal  bishop  of 
mediaeval  Europe  ?  or  the  Erastian  bishop  of  Tudor 
England?  or  the  "  tulchan  bishop"  of  seventeenth- 
century  Scotland  ?  or  the  political  bishop  of  the 
Hanoverians?  or  the  "Apostolic"  bishop  of  the 
Tractarians  ?  or  the  episcopal  presbyter  of  the  Presby- 
terian "  High  "  Churchmen  ?  or  the  delegate  bishop  of 
modern  Rome  ?  or  the  superintendent  bishop  of  the 
Lutherans  and  Episcopal  Methodists  ?  All  are  equally 
historic,  and  so  are  many  other  forms  of  ecclesiastical 
system.  History  is  never  a  partisan,  and  the  tradition 
which  it  delivers  from  the  past  to  the  present  is  too  vast 
and  various  to  serve  any  particular  theory.  To  my 
thinking  this  phrase,  "  the  historic  episcopate,"  is  mis- 
leading and  unhelpful.  It  really  means  no  more  than 
the  particular  form  of  ecclesiastical  government  which 
modern  Anglicans  possess,  and  which  many  of  them 
suppose  to  be  of  all  the  reformed  ministries  exclusively 
authorized  by  God. 

3.  There  are  two  bodies  of  reformed  Christians — the 
Moravians  and  the  Swedish  Lutherans — which  claim  to 
possess  "  the  historic  episcopate,"  transmitted  from  the 
pre-Reformation  Church.  Neither  of  them  finds  it 
necessary  to  repudiate  fellowship  with  non-episcopal 
churches.  This  fact  may  suffice  to  show  that  there  is 
nothing  prohibitive  of  intercommunion  involved  in  the 

26 


The  Historic  Episcopate 


possession  of  "  the  historic  episcopate."    The  difficulty 

arises  only   when  a  specific  theory,  the   dogma  of 

"apostolical  succession,"  is  associated  with  the  episcopal 

system.    Let  me  here  call  your  attention  to  the  excellent 

reply  which  the  general  synod  of  the  Moravian  Church 

has  returned  to  the  rather  patronizing  overtures  of  the 

last  Pan-Anglican  conference.    It  is  published  in  the 

"Church  Quarterly"  for  October,  1909.     The  third 

resolution  runs  thus  : — 

"That  we  hold  that  inter-communion  with  the  Anglican  Church 
must  rest  on  the  same  mutual  recognition  and  freedom  to  co- 
operate as  now  exists  between  us  and  several  Churches,  episcopal 
and  other,  in  Europe  and  America  ;  and,  corporate  union  not 
being  in  question,  we  regard  our  position  as  that  of  an  independent 
branch  of  the  Church  Catholic,  '  an  ancient  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,'  as  described  in  the  Act  of  Parliament,  22  Geo.  II. 
cap.  120." 

The  Moravian  Professor  Schwarze,  writing  in  the 
same  journal,  described  thus  the  Moravian  position  : — 

"  Moravians,  in  their  estimation  of  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
values  for  Christian  unity,  rate  episcopacy  as  of  secondary 
interest.  Their  standpoint  is  that  the  basis  of  union  consists  in 
the  fundamental  facts  of  Christianity.  Episcopacy,  in  their  view, 
may  be  very  useful  to  the  attainment  of  the  laudable  object,  but 
it  is  not  essential.  Principles  of  religion  and  faith,  they  hold,  com- 
mend themselves  to  all  the  seriously  minded  as  proper  ground  for 
Christian  union,  and  even  Church  union.  The  end  held  in  view 
by  both  communions  (Anglican  and  Moravian),  viz,,  alliance  that 
shall  have  substantiality,  agreement  that  shall  have  vitality,  is  the 
same  :  the  method  of  approach  held  by  each  to  be  feasible  differs 
from  the  other." 

The  Moravians  do  not  hold  the  dogma  of  apostolical 
succession  :  the  Pan-Anglican  conference  seems  to 
make  that  dogma  its  presupposition.  In  that  dogma  is 
a  fatal  obstacle  to  intercommunion. 

4.  Let  us  take  a  moderate  statement  of  the  dogma 
by  one  whose  candour,  learning,  and  good  sense  are 


27 


Westminster  Sermons 


universally  allowed,  Dr.  Strong,  the  present  Dean  of 
Christ  Church.  In  his  "  Manual  of  Theology,"  published 
in  1892,  there  is  a  chapter  entitled  "The  Extension  of 
the  Incarnation  in  the  Church  and  the  Sacraments." 
Throughout  this  chapter  the  author  appears  to  be  labour- 
ing under  the  consciousness  that  his  exclusive  theory  is 
properly  inconsistent  with  his  general  conception  of 
Christianity.  He  is  driven  to  strange  expedients  to 
find  some  tolerable  explanation  of  his  rigorous  doctrine. 
Throughout  the  discussion  he  identifies  the  visible 
Church  of  Christ  with  the  episcopally-organised 
churches,  and  disallows  as  inadmissible  the  notion  that 
non-episcopal  ministries  and  sacraments  administered 
by  them,  can  be  valid  : — 

"The  Church,  we  say,  is  a  permanent  assurance  by  its  very 
existence  of  the  presence  and  activity  of  God  in  the  world.  And 
it  is  in  this  connexion  that  we  come  across  the  question  of  the 
validity  of  sacraments.  .  .  .  Quite  broadly,  then,  the  Church  lays 
its  imprimatur  only  upon  sacraments  performed  in  connexion 
with  its  own  organization  and  usage.  It  claims  to  be  the  normal 
channel  through  which  the  grace  of  the  new  covenant  is  given  to 
men ;  and  in  this  capacity  it  defines  certain  methods  for  the 
bestowal  of  its  benefits.  Sacraments,  then,  if  they  are  to  be 
administered  in  connexion  with  the  Church,  must  conform  to  the 
conditions  laid  down.  Otherwise  the  Church  guarantees  nothing. 
Hence,  in  the  case  of  the  Eucharist  as  administered  by  societies 
which  have  broken  off  from  the  common  tradition  in  organization, 
there  is  a  deficiency  in  the  conditions  of  validity  demanded  by  the 
Church,  and  therefore  the  Church  can  give  no  assurance  about  its 
character."1 

Again,  even  more  specifically : — 

"  The  tests  of  the  validity  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  are  somewhat 
stringent.  It  must  be  celebrated  with  the  proper  matter,  and  the 
formula  of  consecration,  that  is,  the  words  of  institution  must  be 
recited  ;  but  it  is  not  valid  if  celebrated  by  any  person  other  than 
an  ordained  minister  of  priestly  rank.  .  .  .  We  must  repeat  that 

1  P-  376. 


28 


The  Historic  Episcopate 


this  does  not  necessarily  deny  that  the  sacraments  used  by  other 
societies  bring  blessing  with  them,  but  it  asserts  that  the  Church 
knows  nothing  about  them.  It  has  defined  the  method  of  carrying 
out  our  Lord's  command,  in  exercise  of  its  due  rights,  and  beyond 
this  it  cannot  go,  it  can  give  no  assurance  of  any  kind."1 

With  respect  to  "  the  ordinance  upon  which  the 
whole  visible  order  of  the  Church  turns — holy  orders," 
Dr.  Strong  speaks  with  no  less  decision  and  lucidity  : — 

"  The  process  of  ordination  is  sacramental.  The  power  is 
conveyed  by  the  act  of  laying-on  of  hands,  which  is  the  outward 
sign  of  the  grace  conferred.  It  is  an  act  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  Guide  and  Ruler  of  the  Church,  is  directly  concerned.  The 
essential  feature  of  the  whole  act  is  the  transmission  of  defined 
powers.  An  ordained  person  is  not  a  plenipotentiary  ;  he  is  free 
within  the  limits  of  his  commission,  but  that  is  all.  Hence  the 
importance  of  the  doctrine  of  succession.  It  is  not  that  there  is  a 
mystical  semi-magical  efficacy  in  the  apostolic  source  of  the 
ordination  gift,  but  that  in  this  way  only  is  the  limitation  pre- 
served which  the  principle  of  transmission  involves.  The  gift  of 
holy  orders  must  be  transmitted  by  those  to  whom  the  function 
of  transmission  is  assigned,  and  by  no  others."2 

"The  episcopal  office,  then,  stamps  with  the  authority 
of  the  Church  all  that  is  done  with  its  imprimatur ;  it 
guarantees  the  validity  of  the  orders  conferred  upon  those  who 
minister  in  the  ordinary  business  of  the  Church,  and  so  indirectly 
it  affirms  the  validity  of  the  sacraments  they  administer.  .  .  . 
The  orders  bestowed  by  the  bishop  in  the  regular  way  are  in- 
delible. No  person  who  has  once  been  ordained  can  get  rid  of  the 
fact,  or  be  other  than  an  ordained  man.  The  grace  of  holy  orders 
separates  a  man  for  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  gives  him  a 
definite  position  and  character.  He  may  act  unworthily  of  his 
high  calling,  or  he  may  cease  to  act  at  all ;  but  he  does  not  on  that 
account  lose  his  priestly  character.  Moreover,  his  moral  un- 
worthiness,  though  it  deprives  him  of  much  influence  and  power 
in  the  Church,  does  not  strictly  invalidate  the  sacraments  he  ad- 
ministers. At  first  sight  this  may  seem  a  hard  doctrine,  but  in 
reality  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise.  The  ordained  man  is  the 
chosen  minister  of  God,  to  whom  positive  functions  have  been 
entrusted.  It  may  be  that  he  should  never  have  sought  orders  at 
all,  and  some  responsibility  may  rest  with  the  bishop  who  ordained 
him  ;  but,  once  given  the  orders  cannot  be  denied ;  the  gift  is 
there,  however  unworthy  the  recipient."3 

1  P.  389.  a  P.  403.  i  P.  406. 


29 


Westminster  Sermons 


This  doctrine  is  representative :  it  was  implicitly,  if 
not  also  formally,  adopted  by  the  Pan-Anglican  Con- 
ference, and  it  explains  the  suggestive  fact  that  the 
proposal  of  intercommunion  was  limited  to  the 
episcopal  churches.  On  the  theory  of  apostolical 
succession  non-episcopalians  are  not  members  of  the 
visible  Church  in  any  effective  sense.  Intercommunion 
can  but  be  between  brethren,  and  the  fraternal  character 
in  their  case  is  denied.  As  individuals  they  may  be 
called  Christians  ;  as  members  of  non-episcopal 
churches  they  lie  outside  the  covenant.  The  brutal 
conclusion  may  be  stated  kindly  or  crudely,  but  its 
character  remains  the  same.  "  Jews  have  no  dealings 
with  Samaritans." 

5.  If  proof  were  needed  that  the  root  of  separation 

is  not  the  "historic  episcopate,"  but  the   dogma  of 

apostolical  succession  which  has  been  associated  with 

it,  I  would  point  to  the  significant  circumstance  that 

where,  as  among  the  "  High  Church  "  Presbyterians, 

the  dogma  of  apostolical  succession  is  held  apart  from 

the  episcopate,  the  same  consequence   follows.  The 

following  words  by  the  late  Dr.  Sprott,  a  learned  and 

eminent  Presbyterian  minister,  are  suggestive  : — 

"  The  most  learned  Anglican  writers  are  now  admitting  that 
episcopacy  was  gradually  introduced,  and  was  not  universal  in 
the  primitive  Church,  and  some  of  them  are  prepared  not  only  to 
recognize  presbyterian  orders,  but  the  Congregationalist  ministry 
derived  from  the  people.  Here  we  must  part  company  with  them. 
Because  the  argument  for  the  divine  right  of  episcopacy  breaks 
down,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  ordination  by  presbyters,  and 
apostolic  succession  through  them,  are  not  essential  to  a  valid 
ministry."1 

The    rigid  loyalty  to   the  principle  of  apostolical 

1  "The  Pentecostal  Gift,"  p.  207. 


30 


The  Historic  Episcopate 

succession  which  Dr.  Sprott  and  his  friends  exhibit 

does  not  succeed  in  propitiating  the  more  relentless 

rigour   of  our   episcopalians.     Bishop   Gore,  with 

characteristic  candour,  has  dealt  faithfully  with  them 

in  his  recent  book,  "  Orders  and  Unity  "  : — 

"  There  exists  a  school  of  Presbyterian  theologians  who  seek  to 
maintain,  apparently,  the  whole  principle  of  apostolic  succession, 
only  contending  that  the  power  of  ordination  belongs  always 
essentially  to  the  presbyter  as  well  as  the  bishop,  and  can  be 
validly  exercised  by  him,  at  least  on  an  emergency.  On  this  basis 
they  would  maintain  that  the  valid  succession  has  been  maintained 
in  the  Presbyterian  churches  ;  and  would  draw  a  distinction 
between  the  Presbyterians  on  the  one  hand  and  the  mass  of  the 
Protestant  bodies — Congregationalists,  Baptists,  Methodists,  etc. — 
on  the  other. 

"  There  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  evidence  that,  on  the  catholic 
principle  of  orders  to  which  they  appeal,  they  could  justify  the 
claim  that  the  Presbyterian  churches  have  '  maintained  the  succes- 
sion,' even  if  the  fundamental  identity  of  presbyter  and  bishop 
were  admitted.  .  .  .  But  I  speak  with  much  more  certainty  when 
I  say  that  the  claim  that  a  sixteenth-century  presbyter  had,  even 
on  an  emergency,  the  same  authority  as  a  bishop  to  ordain,  is 
totally  unjustifiable.  .  .  .  These  Scottish  divines  appeal  to  catholic 
principles  and  church  law,  and  on  catholic  principles  and  church 
law  they  have,  it  must  be  emphatically  said,  no  case  at  all."1 

6.  Bishop  Wordsworth  approaches  the  question 
in  a  more  scholarly  temper  than  Bishop  Gore,  but  I 
do  not  observe  that  he  reaches  any  different  conclusion. 
He,  no  more  than  his  colleague,  is  prepared  to  recognize 
the  validity  of  Presbyterian  orders,  but  he  supposes 
that  by  borrowing  from  the  past  the  practice  of  ordina- 
tions to  the  episcopate  "per  saltum,"  he  will  avoid  the 
necessity  of  insisting  upon  re-ordination,  and  thus 
"save  the  face"  of  sensitive  ecclesiastics  who  have 
none  but  Presbyterian  orders. 

"  I  should  myself  hold  that  a  bishop  was  ipso  facto  ordained  a 
priest,  since  the  greater  includes  the  less.    A  bishop  is  ordained 

1  "Orders  and  Unity,"  pp.  180 — 183. 


31 


Westminster  Sermons 


to  the  '  sacerdotium  '  and  to  the  highest  kind  of  '  sacerdotium.' 
But  in  such  a  case  {i.e.,  of  a  per  saltum  consecration  of  a 
Presbyterian  minister  to  the  episcopate)  it  might  be  wise  and 
right  to  add  words  to  the  ordinal  so  as  to  include  the  commission 
to  dispense  and  minister  the  Word  and  sacraments,  and  to  exer- 
cise the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  which  according  to  our  rite 
express  the  powers  of  the  '  sacerdotium '  very  much  as  they  are 
expressed  in  the  Sacramentary  of  SERAPION."1 

7.  The  radical  vice  of  the  Lambeth  method  is  that  it 
implies  an  extension  of  a  false  principle.  Many  of  the 
bishops  are  allowing  themselves  to  be  cheated  with  the 
notion  that,  if  they  recognize  an  apostolical  succession 
through  presbyters,  they  will  make  a  great  stride 
towards  reunion.  The  very  contrary  is  the  case. 
Assuming  their  success  in  persuading  the  Presbyterians 
to  respond  to  their  approaches,  they  would  have  broken 
up  a  larger  fellowship  than  they  could  create,  and 
within  their  own  communion,  as  the  language  of 
Bishop  Gore  sufficiently  indicates,  would  have  induced 
a  formidable  schism.  Only  by  repudiating  the  dogma 
of  apostolic  succession  can  the  "  historic  episcopate " 
be  cleansed  of  that  schismatic  character  which  now  so 
heavily  compromises  it  in  the  eyes  of  a  candid  student 
of  Church  history.  We  must  ask,  then,  whether  there 
is  anything  in  the  law  and  constitution  of  the  Church 
of  England  which  requires  us  to  maintain  the  dogma  of 
apostolical  succession,  and  thus  prohibits  us  from 
recognizing  as  valid  the  non-episcopal  ministries. 

8.  I  maintain  (i)  that  there  is  nothing  in  the 
standards  of  the  English  Church  which  can  be  fairly 
said  to  contain  this  dogma ;  (ii)  that  the  history  of 
the  reformed  Church  proves  that  the  reformers  and 

1  "  Unity  and  Fellowship,"  p.  52. 


32 


The  Historic  Episcopate 

organisers  of  the  Church  did  not  hold  it ;  (iii)  that  the 
Restoration  settlement,  though  undoubtedly  involving 
a  measure  of  ecclesiastical  isolation  greater  that  had 
been  previously  known,  did  not  really  alter  the  Anglican 
doctrine  of  the  ministry ;  (iv)  that  the  dogma  of 
"  apostolical  succession  "  was  formulated  by  the 
tractarians,  and  has  only  become  Anglican  doctrine 
by  consequence  of  their  triumph  in  the  hierarchy ; 
(v)  that  the  progress  of  historical  science,  and  the 
lessons  of  Christian  experience,  require  that  the  most 
liberal  interpretation  should  be  given  to  the  language 
of  the  Anglican  standards  ;  (vi)  that  in  the  interest  of 
Christian  unity  English  churchmen  are  especially  called 
upon  to  sustain  by  word  and  example  a  protest  against 
the  tractarian  dogma  of  apostolical  succession. 

9.  I  believe  that  Bishop  Gore  is  substantially  right 
when  he  says  that  "  there  lay  at  the  root  of  the  whole 
Reformation  movement  the  denial  of  the  principle  of  the 
succession,"1  but  that  he  is  almost  grotesquely  wrong 
when  he  separates  the  Church  of  England  from  that 
movement.  I  believe  that  the  English  reformers  were 
in  general  agreement  with  their  continental  contem- 
poraries and  teachers  "  in  repudiating  with  contempt 
the  idea  that  the  power  to  ordain  pastors  for  the  true 
Church  of  Christ  depended  upon  succession  to  the 
officers,  whether  bishops  or  priests,  of  that  com- 
munion."2 I  submit  that  the  language  of  the  preface 
to  the  ordinal  and  the  23rd  Article  must  be  inter- 
preted in  the  light  of  the  known  beliefs,  and  well  ascer- 
tained practice,  of  the  authors  of  it :  that  no  representa- 
tive Anglican  of  the  pre-tractarian  period  ever  held 

•  P.  176.  3  P.  178. 

33  C 


Westminster  Sermons 


the  invalidity  of  non-episcopal  orders,  even  the  most 
severe,  like  Andrewes,  Bancroft,  Laud,  and  Cosin, 
allowing  that  the  circumstances  of  the  continental 
churches  justified  their  presbyterian  ordinations  ;  that 
no  Anglican  of  importance  placed  such  emphasis  on 
organization  as  to  make  the  very  being  of  a  church 
turn  on  it ;  that  far  more  emphasis  was  placed  on  the 
autonomy  of  the  nation,  and  the  divinely  conferred 
rights  of  the  Christian  monarch,  than  on  a  tactual 
succession  from  the  Apostles ;  that  the  main  point  in 
the  apostolic  precedent  was  generally  represented  to 
be  the  existence  in  the  Church  of  a  superior  or  govern- 
ing order  of  ministers,  not  a  particular  mode  of  ordain- 
ing such  superior  ministers ;  that  intercommunion 
between  the  Church  of  England  and  the  other  reformed 
churches  prevailed,  and  was  never  by  any  formal  act 
destroyed ;  that  even  the  Restoration  settlement,  while 
drawing  tighter  the  reins  of  discipline  within  the 
Church,  and  raising  higher  than  before  the  theory  of 
episcopal  authority,  did  not  formally  condemn  as 
invalid  non-episcopal  ordinations,  or  actually  and  com- 
pletely close  the  English  Church  to  non-episcopal 
ministrations.  On  all  these  points  ample  evidence  can 
be,  and  often  has  been,  given.  In  this  connection  it  is 
worth  while  to  recall  to  memory  an  excellent  but  now 
generally  forgotten  book,  Goode's  "  Divine  Rule  of 
Faith  and  Practice,"  originally  published  in  1841.  In 
the  second  volume  there  is  a  useful  discussion  on  the 
point,  whether  or  not  the  dogma  of  apostolical  succes- 
sion is  included  in  the  Anglican  system,  and  a  large 
number  of  authorities  are  quoted. 

10.  I  desire  also  to  point  out  that  the  Bishop  of 


34 


The  Historic  Episcopate 

Salisbury  underrates  the  significance  of  the  clause  in 
the  Caroline  Act  of  Uniformity  which  reserves  to  the 
Crown  the  right  to  appoint  members  of  the  foreign 
churches  to  English  benefices,  and  greatly  overrates 
the  significance  of  the  preface  to  the  ordinal.  His 
lordship  thinks  that  the  exempting  clause  "  refers  to  a 
few  exceptional  bodies  such  as  that  which  still  worships 
in  Canterbury  Cathedral."  I  submit  that  a  far  more 
probable  interpretation  is  that  which  sees  in  it  the 
purpose  of  continuing  the  old  hospitality  to  distinguished 
members  of  the  foreign  churches,  which  had  been 
exercised  by  the  King's  predecessors,  and  which 
Charles  II.,  who  had  received  kindness  from  the 
foreign  Protestants,  was  scarcely  in  a  position  decently 
to  refuse.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  would  appear  that  the 
clause  was  actually  used  to  introduce  foreign  ministers 
with  presbyterian  ordination  into  English  benefices. 
"  Shortly  after  it  became  law,"  says  Dr.  Sprott, 

"  A  French  Protestant  who  was  ordained  by  presbyters  in  France 
was  admitted  to  a  rectory  in  Kent  without  re-ordination,  in  succes- 
sion to  a  minister  who  had  been  deprived  because  he  had  been 
ordained  by  presbyters  in  England  during  the  Rebellion. 
Philip  Henry,  father  of  the  commentator,  writes  in  his  diary, 
under  the  year  1672:  'Suppose  a  Dutch  or  French  protestant 
minister  to  come  into  England  to  preach,  he  is  not  re-ordained,  but 
only  licensed';  and  so  late  as  1820  many  of  the  parochial  clergy 
in  the  Channel  Islands,  which  form  part  of  the  diocese  of 
Winchester,  had  only  presbyterian  ordination.  A  generation  ago 
many  of  the  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  Propagation  Society, 
which  is  presided  over  by  the  whole  bench  of  bishops,  were 
foreigners  in  presbyterian  orders."1 

It  must  surely  be  apparent,  in  view  of  these  facts, 
that  we  are  required  to  see  in  the  exempting  clause  of 

1  "The  Pentecostal  Gift,"  p.  206. 

35  c  2 


Westminster  Sermons 

the  Caroline  Act  of  Uniformity  a  clearly  implied  dis- 
claimer of  the  notion  that  non-episcopal  orders  are  in 
themselves  invalid.  So  preposterous  a  notion  could 
not  have  been  entertained  by  the  Anglican  leaders,  who 
had  but  yesterday  been  communicating  in  presbyterian 
churches,  and  officiating  as  ministers  in  them.  The 
cautious  language  of  Dr.  Sanday  will  perhaps 
serve  as  a  sufficient  substitute  for  the  mass  of  evidence 
which  could  easily  be  produced  if  its  production 
were  necessary : — 

"  It  should  be  distinctly  borne  in  mind  that  the  more  sweeping 
refusal  to  recognize  the  non-episcopal  reformed  churches  is  not, 
and  can  never  be  made,  a  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England.  Too 
many  of  her  most  representative  men  have  not  shared  in  it. 
Hooker  did  not  hold  it  ;  Andrewes  expressly  disclaimed  it ; 
CosiN  freely  communicated  with  the  French  Reformed  Church 
during  his  exile.  Indeed  it  is  not  until  the  last  half  of  the  present 
century  that  more  than  a  relatively  small  minority  of  English 
churchmen  have  been  committed  to  it."1 

ii.  It  is  very  noteworthy  that  the  relatively  liberal 
doctrine  of  the  Anglican  divines  in  the  past  was  reached 
in  spite  of  their  defective  knowledge  of  Christian  origins. 
Almost  all  of  them  held  the  apostolical  institution  of 
diocesan  episcopacy  to  be  historically  demonstrable, 
and  when  the  course  of  controversy  shifted  the  field  of 
debate  from  the  New  Testament  to  the  patristic 
literature,  they  found  their  dialectical  advantage  over- 
whelming. Nevertheless,  so  firmly  rooted  were  they 
in  their  grand  principle,  that  the  essentials  of  Christianity 
must  be  plainly  laid  down  in  the  Scripture,  and  so 
clearly  did  they  perceive  that  questions  of  ecclesiastical 
organization  were  properly  subordinate  to  the  higher 
considerations  of  faith  and  morals,  that  they  were 
1  "  The  Conception  of  Priesthood,"  p.  95. 
36 


The  Historic  Episcopate 

content  to  justify  their  own  position  without  either 
passing  judgment  on  the  position  of  others,  or  deducing 
from  it  the  dolorous  necessity  of  breaking  Christian 
fellowship.  Had  they  possessed  the  knowledge  which 
underlies  such  writings  as  Bishop  Lightfoot's  famous 
"  Dissertation,"  or  Hatch's  no  less  famous  Bampton 
Lectures,  or  Bishop  Wordsworth's  "  Ministry  of 
Grace,"  or  Principal  Lindsay's  "  The  Church  and  the 
Ministry  in  the  Early  Centuries,"  or  Bigg's  "  Origins 
of  Christianity,"  or  Gwatkin's  "  Early  Church  History," 
their  position  would  have  been  greatly  strengthened, 
and  such  embarrassments  as  some  of  them  exhibited 
would  have  been  wholly  removed.  It  is  one  of  the 
strangest  and  most  perplexing  spectacles  conceivable, 
that  the  new  rigidity  of  Anglicans  should  have  developed 
coincidently  with  an  advance  in  historical  science,  which 
seems  to  invalidate  its  most  essential  presupposition. 
I  apprehend  the  reason  to  be  the  new  attitude  of  mind 
taken  up  to  the  Reformation  movement  itself.  The 
Anglicans  of  the  past,  whatever  might  be  their  opinions 
as  to  the  authority  and  value  of  the  historic  episcopate, 
drew  a  deep  line  between  the  Churches  of  the  Reforma- 
tion and  the  unreformed  Churches ;  they  regarded  the 
Church  of  England  as  "  the  beauty  and  strength  of  the 
Reformation."  The  modern  tractarians,  like  their 
ablest  and  latest  exponent,  Bishop  Gore,  regard  the 
Reformation  with  dislike,  habitually  belittle  it,  and 
appear  to  separate  the  Church  of  England  from  any 
real  share  in  the  common  movement.  Accordingly  the 
supremacy  of  tractarianism  is  proving  itself  a  principle 
of  complete  Anglican  isolation.  "Intercommunion" 
between    Anglicans   and   Protestants    is  absolutely 

37 


Westminster  Sermons 


inconsistent  with  the  dogma  of  apostolical  succession. 
The  tractarian  theory  of  an  "  historic  episcopate  "  is 
fatal  to  "  the  expression  of  Christian  brotherhood  in 
Holy  Communion  and  interchange  of  pulpits." 

12.  The  Bishop  of  Salisbury  thinks  it  necessary 
to  excuse  himself  for  speaking  in  a  Lutheran  church 
in  Germany,  and  is  careful  to  explain  that,  though 
present  at  a  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion  at 
Upsala,  he  did  not  communicate.  His  lordship's 
objection  to  English  clergymen  preaching  in  noncon- 
formist chapels,  and  vice  versa,  is  "  that  such  acts 
confuse  the  minds  of  our  own  people  as  to  who  has  the 
right  to  teach  them."  Let  any  one  think  out  soberly 
the  implications  and  logical  requirements  of  such 
language,  and  he  will  need  no  farther  evidence  of  the 
impossibility  of  fraternal  relations  between  Bishop 
Wordsworth's  type  of  Anglican  and  every  form  of 
non-episcopalian  and  nonconformist.  Bishop  Words- 
worth, moreover,  represents  the  scholarly  and  moderate 
tractarian.  In  his  case  the  whole  difficulty  lies  in  the 
false  theory  which  dominates  his  thinking,  and  goes 
far  to  neutralize  his  erudition.  Lesser  and  less  learned 
minds  admit  other  and  lower  motives — jealousy,  the 
pride  of  office,  the  suspicions  of  bigotry,  the  blinding 
spirit  of  religious  rivalry. 

Dr.  Briggs,  himself  a  convert  from  presbyterianism 
to  the  Anglican  communion,  has  recently  published 
a  book  on  Church  unity,  which,  in  spite  of  some 
characteristic  whimsicalities,  is  very  well  worth  study. 
I  will  bring  my  paper  to  a  close  by  quoting  and 
endorsing  a  few  words  from  his  pages  : — 

"  It  would  be  wholesome  if  the  Church  of  England  would  return 

38 


The  Historic  Episcopate 

to  the  principles  of  its  own  reformers.  Protestant  orders  all  rest 
firmly  on  the  ground  of  the  right  of  reformation  and  revolution. 
History  justifies  that  right.  When  the  time  of  the  greater 
reformation  comes,  the  Roman  Church  will  recognize  the  right 
of  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  then,  and  then 
only,  will  the  mutual  recognition  of  orders  take  place  in  a  reunited 
and  reconstructed  Christianity."  1 

1  P.  120. 


39 


Ill 


THINGS    ESSENTIAL    AND    THINGS  NON- 
ESSENTIAL 

It  needs  no  argument  in  a  reformed  Church  that  a 
distinction  may  rightly  be  drawn  between  the  various 
parts  of  the  traditional  Christian  system,  and  that  some 
of  these  may  for  sufficient  reasons  be  modified  or 
wholly  taken  away.  In  the  20th  Article  it  is  laid  down 
that  the  Catholic  Church  itself  may  not  "  decree  any- 
thing against  Holy  Writ,  nor  besides  the  same  enforce 
anything  to  be  believed  for  necessity  of  salvation." 
The  21st  Article  affirms  the  errancy  of  general 
councils,  and  declares  roundly  that  "  things  ordained 
by  them  as  necessary  to  salvation  have  neither  strength 
nor  authority,  unless  it  may  be  declared  that  they  be 
taken  out  of  Holy  Scripture."  The  34th  Article  re- 
pudiated the  notion  that  "traditions  and  ceremonies" 
must  be  everywhere  the  same,  and  declares  that "  every 
particular  or  national  Church  hath  authority  to  ordain, 
change,  and  abolish  ceremonies  and  rites  of  the  Church 
ordained  only  by  man's  authority,  so  that  all  things 
be  done  to  edifying."  This  liberal  doctrine  was 
liberally  interpreted  by  the  fathers  of  the  English 
Reformation.  They  effected  a  religious  revolution. 
Alike  in  doctrine  and  in  discipline  the  whole  ecclesi- 
astical system  of  the  country  was  changed.    In  the 


40 


Things  Essential  and  Non-Essential 

higher  interest  of  Christian  truth  and  liberty  the 
visible  unity  of  the  Church  was  broken  up,  and  with 
respect  to  the  older  organization  of  the  parent  Church 
the  position  of  a  "  separated  body  "  was  deliberately 
accepted.  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  the  English 
churchman  enters  on  the  discussion  of  the  subject 
before  us  with  great  advantages.  His  history  and 
the  explicit  teaching  of  his  Church  require  him  to 
adopt  towards  other  "separated  bodies  "  an  attitude  of 
discrimination  and  large  tolerance. 

Applying,  then,  the  principles  of  the  English  Reforma- 
tion, as  they  are  set  forth  in  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  to 
the  present  situation,  we  must  ask  how  far  it  may  be 
possible,  without  infidelity  to  essential  Christianity,  so  to 
improve  our  relations  to  our  fellow  Christians  as  to 
mitigate  the  religious  isolation,  which  at  present  weighs 
so  heavily  on  the  Anglican  churchman,  and  so  gravely 
weakens  his  influence  for  good. 

Once  postulate  the  authority  of  scripture  as  the 
criterion  of  essentials,  and  it  is  manifest  that  these  are 
greatly  limited.  The  ground  is  cleared  of  most  of  the 
issues  which  divide  the  churches.  Thus  questions  of 
specific  forms  of  the  Christian  ministry,  of  disciplinary 
procedure,  of  the  mode  of  public  worship,  of  "  estab- 
lishment "  or  non-establishment,  are  ruled  out.  None 
of  these  can  be  brought  within  the  definition  of 
essentials.  We  are  free  to  debate  them  calmly  on  the 
ground  of  expediency.  In  the  actual  circumstances, 
what  is  their  value  ?  How  far  do  they  really  serve  for 
the  edifying  of  the  Church  ? 

In  the  answering  of  these  questions  we  must  ascribe 
the  greatest  importance  to  the  lessons  of  history.  We 

4i 


Westminster  Sermons 


must  not  force  the  witness  of  experience  into  the  service 
of  some  rigid  ecclesiastical  theory.  Wherever  the  moral 
effects  of  Christianity,  "  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,"  are 
exhibited  in  any  system,  which  holds  fast  to  the 
essentials,  we  must  recognize,  eagerly  and  gratefully, 
the  ecclesiastical  character,  and  claim  the  privilege  of 
Christian  fellowship. 

The  formal  definition  of  the  Church  in  the  igth 
Article  seems  to  provide  us  with  the  platform  which  is 
needed : — 

"  The  visible  Church  of  Christ  is  a  congregation  of  faithful 
men,  in  the  which  the  pure  word  of  God  is  preached,  and  the 
sacraments  be  duly  ministered  according  to  Christ's  ordinance  in 
all  those  things  that  of  necessity  are  requisite  to  the  same." 

In  the  sixteenth  century  this  definition  was  condi- 
tioned by  the  exaggerated  nationalism  which  imposed 
territorial  boundaries  on  every  church,  and  identified 
ecclesiastical  dissent  with  civil  treason.  In  the  twentieth 
century,  however,  these  conditions  have  disappeared, 
and  we  may  apply  the  definition  of  the  19th  Article 
to  the  religious  communities  which  claim  to  be 
churches  without  confusing  our  minds  with  considera- 
tions which  are  properly  less  religious  than  political. 

Are  there  any  bodies  of  Christians,  at  present  exiles 
from  our  fellowship,  which  yet  answer  to  our  own 
definition  of  what  a  Christian  Church  essentially  is  ? 

Let  us  illustrate  the  argument  with  a  concrete 
example.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Church  is  "  a  congregation  of  faithful  (i.e., 
believing)  men,"  or  that  in  it  "  the  pure  word  of  God 
is  preached,"  or  that  the  sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism 
is  duly  ministered  according  to  Christ's  ordinance. 

42 


Things  Essential  and  Non-Essential 

Perhaps  we  shall  all  so  far  be  agreed.  With  respect  to 
the  Lord's  Supper,  there  will  be  difference  of  opinion  ; 
and  yet,  when  the  matter  is  seriously  considered,  I  do 
not  think  it  will  be  possible  to  deny  in  the  case  of  this 
sacrament  also  that  the  necessary  conditions  of  validity 
are  satisfied. 

So  far  as  the  actual  administration  of  the  sacrament 
is  concerned,  the  case  is  admittedly  clear.  The  elements 
which  Christ  appointed  are  used,  and  His  word  is 
unfailingly  rehearsed.  The  sole  objection  is  to  the 
status  of  the  officiating  minister.  Is  he  a  duly  ordained 
minister  ? 

Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  question  whether  a 
duly  ordained  minister  is  "  by  Christ's  ordinance " 
essential  to  a  valid  administration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion, and  looking  only  to  the  point  whether  or  not 
a  minister,  ordained  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
Wesleyan  Methodist  Church,  is  duly  ordained,  we  surely 
must  admit  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  New  Testament, 
or  in  the  formal  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England, 
which  compels  a  negative  answer. 

That  Christ  laid  down  no  rules  on  the  subject  of 
the  ministry  is  apparent  to  every  student  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  by  our  Anglican  hypothesis  we  are 
limited  to  Christ's  ordinance,  when  we  would  deter- 
mine what  is  "  of  necessity  requisite "  to  the  due 
ministration  of  the  sacraments.  There  is  assuredly 
quite  as  much  in  Christ's  teaching  to  disallow  non- 
episcopal  administration  of  baptism  as  to  disallow  non- 
episcopal  administration  of  the  Holy  Communion. 
The  23rd  Article,  moreover,  sets  forth  a  doctrine  of 
the   Christian    ministry    which,   since    the  general 

43 


Westminster  Sermons 


abandonment  of  the  old  political  conception  of  a 
Church  as  properly  co-extensive  with  the  nation,  must 
be  allowed  to  extend  to  associations  of  believers, 
which  are  not  formed  on  a  political  or  territorial  basis. 

"  Those  we  ought  to  judge  lawfully  called  and  sent,  which  be 
chosen  and  called  to  this  work  by  en  who  have  publick  authority 
given  unto  them  in  the  congregation,  to  call  and  send  ministers 
into  the  Lord's  vineyard." 

I  have  mentioned  the  case  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Church  only  by  way  of  illustration.  The  principle 
which  would  permit — and  which  I  honestly  believe 
does  require — us  frankly  to  recognize  the  ecclesiastical 
character  of  that  body,  would  manifestly  demand  a 
wider  application,  an  application  wide  enough  to  bring 
within  our  religious  fellowship  all  those  "  separated 
bodies  "  which  agree  with  us  in  the  essentials  of  faith 
and  morals,  and  in  the  reverent  use  of  the  sacraments 
of  the  Gospel. 


44 


IV 


INTERCOMMUNION  AND  REUNION1 

There  is  no  necessity  to  offer  reasons  for  thinking 
that  the  divisions  of  the  Church  are  evil  in  themselves, 
and  widely  mischievous  in  their  results.  We  have 
moved  beyond  the  point  of  thinking  that  competition 
between  denominations  is  the  ideal  condition  of  spiritual 
efficiency,  and  are  now  concerned  with  the  urgent 
practical  question  how  we  shall  lift  from  our  shoulders 
the  incapacitating  burden  of  inherited  sectarianism. 
We  have  some  advantages  which  our  predecessors  had 
not.    It  will  suffice  to  specify  three  : — 

1,  We  are  no  longer  committed  to  the  belief  that  the 
Divine  Founder  of  the  Christian  Church  did,  either 
directly,  or  through  the  agency  of  His  disciples,  appoint 
an  organization  of  the  Church  in  advance  of  its  history. 
We  know  this  now,  not  only  because  the  New  Testa- 
ment contains  no  clear  prescriptions  to  that  effect,  but 
also  because  we  find  that  the  Apostolic  Church  was  so 
filled  with  the  expectation  of  the  second  advent  of 
Christ,  that  it  is  not  conceivable  that  the  Church  should 
have  been  organized  on  the  supposition  which  conflicted 
with  this  universal  and  dominant  conviction. 

2.  We   have  done   with   the   unhistorical  though 

1  A  Paper  read  to  the  Islington  Clerical  Society  on  Tuesday, 
October  12,  1909. 


45 


Westminster  Sermons 


attractive  notion  of  a  "  primitive  Church,"  in  which  the 
mind  of  Christ  was  better  understood,  and  in  which  the 
statutes  of  the  Apostles  were  observed.  We  know  that 
there  was  no  such  golden  age,  competent  to  provide  a 
norm  of  faith  and  doctrine,  and  that  any  serious 
attempt  to  construct  a  modern  Church  on  the  primitive 
model  would  speedily  end  in  failure.  We  smile  as  we 
read  the  exalted  and  reverent  terms  in  which  the 
Anglican  divines  refer  to  the  third  and  fourth  centuries, 
some  of  them  courageously  adventuring  so  far  down  the 
thickening  current  of  time  as  to  speak  of  the  "  first  six 
centuries."  We  know,  thanks  to  the  development  ol 
historical  studies  among  us,  that  the  "  primitive  Church  " 
does  not  merit  this  regard.  The  late  Professor  Bigg 
has  observed  with  truth  of  the  third  century,  the  age  of 
Tertullian  and  Cyprian  and  Iren^eus,  that  "that 
miserable  century,  when  the  world  was  full  of  suffering 
and  disaster,  was  the  true  beginning  of  the  dark  ages." 
It  is  only  when  the  fathers  are  read  in  the  picked 
passages  of  the  controversialists  that  they  can  serve  as 
religious  authorities  for  modern  guidance. 

3.  We  have  witnessed  the  definite  disproving  by 
the  logic  of  facts  of  the  ancient  belief  that  the  spiritual 
power  of  Christianity  depends  on  the  organization  of 
the  Church.  Up  to  the  sixteenth  century,  in  spite  of 
many  schisms  and  long  epochs  of  conflict,  the  external 
unity  of  the  Catholic  Church  had  remained  the  postulate 
of  Christians.  The  episcopal  system,  submerged  indeed 
in  the  East  by  the  supremacy  of  the  Emperor  and  the 
Tsar,  and  in  the  West  by  that  of  the  Pope,  had  persisted, 
and  the  whole  sacramental  system,  carrying  the  vitaliz- 
ing graces  of  the  Incarnation  to  the  faithful,  was  linked 

46 


Intercommunion  and  Reunion 

with  episcopacy.  The  Reformation  destroyed  this 
immemorial  and  universal  unity  of  government. 
National  churches  variously  organized  came  on  the 
scene,  and  these  gave  birth  to  other  churches  organized 
on  some  principle  which  was  not  guaranteed  by  any 
authority  beyond  that  of  individual  consciences.  For 
some  while  it  was  legitimate,  nay  it  was  inevitable,  that 
thoughtful  and  learned  men,  who  could  confront  the 
occurrences  of  their  own  age  with  the  previous  experi- 
ences of  the  Christian  society,  should  regard  these  new 
churches  as  ephemeral  associations,  born  of  passion  and 
conflict,  and  destined  to  pass  away.  But  as  time  passed, 
and  generation  succeeded  generation,  and  these  new 
churches  took  root  and  became  powerful  institutions, 
it  was  inevitable  that  men's  minds  should  be  affected 
by  the  fact.  Justice  is  not  done  to  the  thinkers  of  the 
past  unless  the  situation  in  which  they  ordered  their 
thinking  is  recalled.  One  reason  why  the  Anglicans  of 
the  pre-Laudian  age  were  so  much  larger-minded  than 
their  successors  of  the  Restoration  is  the  circumstance 
that,  whereas  they  looked  out  on  a  Christendom  which 
was  fairly  divided  between  the  reformed  churches  and 
the  impossible  Church  of  Rome,  and  saw  quite  clearly 
the  obvious  union  which  existed  between  themselves 
and  the  reformers  elsewhere,  the  Caroline  divines  saw 
everything  and  everybody  through  the  blinding  mist  of 
prejudice,  natural  indeed  but  not  on  that  account  the 
less  misleading,  which  the  civil  war  and  the  years  of 
banishment  had  created.  In  1660  it  was  a  reasonable 
thing  to  believe  that  non-episcopalian  Christianity  could 
not  survive.  For  in  England  and  Scotland  it  had  been 
discredited  by  the  sectarian  excesses  of  the  civil  war, 

47 


Westminster  Sermons 

and  had  been  violently  suppressed  by  the  State ;  on  the 
Continent  it  was  gasping  with  exhaustion  after  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  (1618 — 1648),  and  was  plainly 
threatened  by  the  quickly  rising  power  of  the  French 
monarchy.  Outside  of  Europe  there  was  nothing  but 
the  infant  colonies  of  New  England,  which  had  as  yet 
attained  no  importance.  Only  the  episcopal  Church 
of  England  seemed  to  have  any  firm  promise  of  con- 
tinuance. South  said  that  "  the  only  thing  that  made 
Protestantism  considerable  in  Christendom  was  the 
Church  of  England."  In  such  circumstances  it  was 
not  surprising  that  Anglicans  regarded  as  a  transitory 
factor  in  Christendom  that  non-episcopal  Christianity 
which  the  Reformation  of  the  preceding  century  had 
developed.  In  1909,  how  different  is  the  outlook! 
Non-episcopal  Christianity  now  is  a  waxing  factor  in 
Christendom,  and  seems  to  have  a  future  in  the  non- 
Christian  world  grander  than  any  which  the  older 
episcopal  churches  can  look  forward  to.  In  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century  nonconformity  in  this  country 
was  almost  a  negligible  quantity ;  at  the  present  time, 
so  far  as  the  statistics  of  denominationalism  can  show 
the  facts,  at  least  half  of  the  serious  Christians  in  the 
nation  are  enrolled  as  members  of  some  nonconformist 
church.  Even  this  statement  does  not  present  the 
full  significance  of  the  change.  A  century  ago  noncon- 
formists were  intellectually  and  socially  a  feeble  folk  ; 
they  were  shut  out  of  the  universities ;  they  were 
disqualified  for  many  civic  and  political  functions  ;  they 
lay  under  considerable  disadvantages.  It  was  legiti- 
mate to  suppose  that  education  and  nonconformity 
were  naturally  opposed.     To-day  we  can  take  account 

48 


Intercommunion  and  Reunion 


of  the  consequences  of  creating  a  condition  of  equality 
between  Anglicans  and  nonconformists.  I  myself 
heard  a  Regius  Professor  in  the  Oxford  Convocation 
declare,  as  a  matter  well  known  to  the  theological 
teachers  of  the  university,  that  their  best  students  came 
from  the  nonconformist  college;  the  greater  denomina- 
tions are  boldly  bringing  their  theological  colleges  to 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  finding  their  courageous 
policy  abundantly  justified.  Sir  Harry  Reichel,  the 
principal  of  the  North  Wales  University  College,  told 
the  Manchester  Church  Congress  last  year  that  the 
balance  of  educational  efficiency  in  the  principality  now 
inclined  on  the  side  of  nonconformity.  If  the  Presby- 
terian churches  of  the  north  be  added  to  the  non-epis- 
copal denominations  of  the  south,  and  account  be  taken 
of  the  intellectual  "  output "  of  the  churches  of  Great 
Britain,  I  believe  it  will  be  found  that  the  best  books 
are  now  being  written  by  non-episcopalians,  except 
perhaps  in  liturgiology  and  in  certain  branches  of  textual 
and  Biblical  criticism,  where  Anglican  scholars  are  still 
at  the  head  of  their  contemporaries.  All  this  here  at 
home,  where  the  Church  of  England  has  been  buttressed 
by  privilege  for  centuries,  and  still  commands  the 
enormous  prestige  implied  in  establishment  and  endow- 
ment, and  includes  the  socially  important  classes  in  its 
membership.  But  go  across  the  seas  to  America  and 
the  Colonies,  and  you  find  yourself  confronted  by  a  still 
more  amazing  situation.  There  the  Anglican  commu- 
nion is  one  of  the  smaller  factors  of  organized  religion. 
It  ranks  as  seventh  in  point  of  size  among  the  Protestant 
churches  of  the  United  States,  and  includes  only  886,942 
communicants  out  of  20,597,954  in  a  total  population 

49  d 


Westminster  Sermons 


of  over  84,000,000.  In  the  colonies  the  situation  is 
better,  but  nowhere  is  Anglicanism  dominant,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  colonists  have  mostly  been  trained 
in  Anglican  schools.  Go  still  farther  afield ;  take  into 
account  the  non-Christian  lands,  and  everywhere  the 
most  considerable  and  energetic  missions  are  those  of 
the  non-episcopal  churches.  The  future  is  not  with 
episcopacy  anywhere,  unless,  indeed,  episcopacy  be  so 
transformed  as  to  become  reconcileable  with  evangelical 
Christianity.  In  all  these  reckonings  we  must  never 
forget  that  the  term  "  episcopal "  is  applied  indiscrimi- 
nately to  Anglicans,  who  yet,  as  all  the  world  knows, 
are  deeply  divided  on  this  very  point,  many  being 
genuinely  evangelical  and  some  being  episcopalian. 

In  view,  then,  of  these  facts,  the  modern  Anglican  can- 
not seriously  suppose  that  non-episcopal  Christianity  is  a 
transitory  phenomenon,  born  of  conflict,  and  carrying 
within  itself  the  seeds  of  death.  He  sees  the  proofs  of 
indestructible  vitality  multiplying  on  all  sides,  and  in 
many  lands. 

4.  From  all  these  circumstances  a  plain  man  would 
infer  that  whatever  else  may  be  indispensable  for  the 
restoration  of  Christian  union,  agreement  in  the 
episcopal  polity  cannot  be  so.  If  indeed  agreement  in 
a  single  polity  be  indispensable,  then  there  is  but  one 
such  polity  which  can  with  any  pretence  to  reason 
advance  the  claim.  The  older  Anglicans,  like  Barrow, 
thought  that  they  could  exempt  episcopacy  from  such 
comparison,  by  showing  that  it  was  clearly  commanded 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  actually  appointed  by  the 
Apostles  ;  but  we  are  all  agreed  now  that  neither  of 
these  propositions  can  be  sustained.    Episcopacy  as 

50 


Intercommunion  and  Reunion 


much  as  the  Papacy  has  to  build  its  claim  to  acceptance 
on  the  argument  of  historical  development ;  and  when 
once  that  argument  is  allowed,  there  can  be  no  question 
as  to  the  superior  strength  of  the  Roman  position. 
Even  now  it  is  still  arguable  that  Christianity  may 
ultimately  survive  only  in  the  Roman  Catholic  version  ; 
there  is  sufficient  strength  and  fervour  in  the  Roman 
Church  to  excuse,  if  certainly  not  to  justify,  the  claim 
of  its  members  to  be  the  "  One  Holy  Catholic  and 
Universal  Church."  But  to  claim  as  much  for  epis- 
copal Christianity,  standing  severely  separate  from  the 
Roman  autocracy  on  the  one  hand,  and  Protestant 
evangelicalism  on  the  other,  is  not  a  reasonable  pro- 
ceeding. 

5.  If,  then,  this  notion  that  some  form  of  ecclesiastical 
polity  is  indispensable  be  set  aside,  and  we  address 
ourselves  to  the  practical  question  without  being  com- 
pelled to  press  for  the  victory  of  some  organization,  the 
whole  situation  becomes  immensely  more  hopeful.  The 
variety  of  denominations,  we  can  see,  need  not  conflict 
with  genuine  Christian  unity ;  although  their  indi- 
vidualism and  competition  are  manifestly  inconsistent 
with  any  fraternity  worthy  the  name.  When  once  we 
have  cleared  our  minds  on  this  score,  and  recognized 
the  potential  validity  of  separate  organizations,  we  can 
begin  to  distinguish  between  false  and  true  versions  of 
the  one  faith.  History  teaches  us  that  the  wilfulness  of 
schismatics  has  had  but  a  slight  share  in  creating,  and 
need  have  no  share  at  all  in  perpetuating,  the  separate 
churches  of  Christendom ;  into  the  separations  naturally, 
and  therefore  validly,  created  there  has  quickly  entered 
the   sinful  temper  of  schism,  and   then  the  whole 

51  D  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


development  of  the  separate  churches  has  been  a 
diseased  and  perverse  development.  Banish  that  temper 
of  schism,  and  in  its  place  bring  the  temper  of  fraternity, 
and  then  everything  is  possible.  "  Charity  never  faileth." 

6.  Let  me  develop  this  point  somewhat  more  care- 
fully. If  you  look  closely  into  the  divisions  of  Christen- 
dom you  will  soon  perceive  this  very  suggestive,  and 
in  some  sense  reassuring,  fact,  that  underlying  them  are 
circumstances  which  have  no  connection  with  religion 
as  such.  Ask  yourself  why  the  Reformation  followed 
mainly  racial  lines.  Latin  and  Celtic  remained  Roman  ; 
Teutonic  and  Scandinavian  became  Protestant.  The 
line  is  not  of  course  hard  and  fast ;  there  are  Protestant 
Latins  and  Celts ;  and  there  are  Roman  Catholic 
Teutons  and  Scandinavians,  but,  broadly,  it  is  true  that 
the  dividing  line  falls  between  the  races.  Why  do  the 
denominations  here  in  England  correspond  so  closely 
with  the  strata  of  society  ?  The  upper  classes  are 
Anglican  ;  the  commercial  aristocracy,  Unitarian  and 
Presbyterian;  the  middle  class,  Congregational;  the 
upper  artisans,  Baptists  and  Wesleyans ;  the  lower 
artisans,  Methodists;  the  unskilled  and  squalid  sections 
passing  everywhere  into  some  form  of  "  corybantic 
Christianity."  Why  in  America  are  the  Methodists  and 
Baptists  far  more  successful  with  the  coloured  people 
than  the  other  Protestants  ?  and  why  does  the  Roman 
system  prevail  among  the  semi-pagan  South  Americans 
and  Mexicans  ?  To  answer  these  questions  dispassion- 
ately is  to  admit,  that  the  existing  divisions  of 
Christianity  may  at  least  in  some  measure  have  a 
legitimate  basis  in  the  varying  requirements  of  various 
humanity.    In  view  of  the  witness  of  Christian  history, 

52 


Intercommunion  and  Reunion 


as  it  is  uttered  in  the  existing  varieties  of  Christianity, 
it  is  an  arrogant  thing  to  claim  that  episcopacy  is 
even  of  the  bene  esse  of  the  Church ;  to  claim  that 
episcopacy  is  of  the  esse  of  the  Church  appears 
to  be  so  deeply  irrational  that  it  needs  no  formal  con- 
futation. 

7.  So  reasonable  is  all  this  that  even  the  advocates 
of  exclusive  episcopacy  are  now  freely  disclaiming  the 
intention  to  demand  uniformity.  Not  uniformity  but 
unity  they  say,  but  at  the  same  time  reserving  this  very 
point  of  government,  where  alone  the  question  is  now 
practical.  If  only  Anglicans,  and  especially  Anglican 
bishops,  would  clear  their  minds  of  cant !  Take  the 
great  types  of  English-speaking  religion.  They  are 
distinctive,  that  is,  they  genuinely  correspond  with 
varieties  of  natural  temperament  and  necessity  precisely 
at  this  point  where  episcopacy  comes  in.  Episcopacy 
as  expressed  in  the  constitution  of  the  "  Representative 
Church  Council"  is  oligarchic;  Presbyterianism  is 
constitutional  and  parliamentary ;  Congregationalism 
is  democratic.  In  the  absence  of  any  divine  teaching 
to  the  contrary,  or  of  any  governing  apostolic  institu- 
tion, or  of  any  clear  and  binding  historical  precedents — 
and  so  much  our  present  argument  assumes — how  can 
you  reasonably  insist  that  the  democratic  congrega- 
tionalist  shall  accept  the  oligarchic  polity  of  the 
episcopalian,  and  then  comfort  him  by  allowing  a 
freedom  from  liturgical  forms  in  his  ordinary  worship  ? 
You  prohibit  his  main  and  justifying  principle,  and  you 
concede  a  mere  fashion  or  preference  which  has  no 
principle  behind  it. 

8.  When  we  have  reached  the  point  of  allowing  that 

53 


Westminster  Sermons 


there  is  no  necessary  breach  of  unity  in  the  co-existence 
of  variously  organized  churches,  we  have  taken  a  great 
step  forward.  We  have  left  the  Pan- Anglican  position 
behind,  and  opened  the  gate  to  immediate  and  fruitful 
advances  towards  a  practical  fraternity.  We  have  to 
determine  on  what  basis  we  shall  recognize  churches. 
Postulating  that  all  true  Christians  are  verily  brethren, 
and  that  they  are  bound  as  such  to  give  outward  form 
to  their  spiritual  relationship,  we  are  at  once  brought  to 
the  question  of  intercommunion.  For  the  Holy  Com- 
munion is  by  universal  consent  the  divinely  appointed 
symbol  and  guarantee  of  Christian  fraternity.  It  is 
the  "  Lord's  Supper,"  and  may  not  without  profana- 
tion be  bent  to  the  service  of  any  lesser  service  than  the 
Lord's.  Once  make  the  Holy  Communion  a  denomina- 
tional act,  and  you  rob  it  of  its  true  significance.  I 
may  observe  that  the  Church  of  England,  with  con- 
spicuous wisdom,  has  connected  no  denominational 
claim  with  the  Holy  Communion.  The  moral  and 
spiritual  conditions  of  worthy  communion — repentance, 
charity,  and  faith — are  stated  in  the  invitation  to  the 
Holy  Communion,  and  the  decision  of  competence  is 
referred,  save  only  in  the  necessary  case  of  grave  public 
scandal,  to  the  conscience  of  the  intending  com- 
municant. The  rubric  at  the  end  of  the  Confirmation 
Service  is  certainly  not  designed  to  state  an  universal 
obligation,  binding  on  all  Christians,  but  only  the 
domestic  rule  for  members  of  the  English  Church. 
We  are  quickly  brought  then  to  the  necessary  minimum 
of  Christian  doctrine ;  and  here  there  can  be  little  fault 
found  with  the  proposal  of  the  Lambeth  Conference, 
that  the  two  ancient  creeds,  the  Apostles'  Creed  and 

54 


Intercommunion  and  Reunion 

the  Nicene  Creed,  should  be  accepted  as  the  sufficient 
statement  of  Christian  belief.  It  is  manifest  that  in 
thus  making  use  of  ancient  formularies  a  reasonable 
latitude  of  interpretation  is  indispensable ;  but  on  the 
main  issue  of  the  Christian's  attitude  towards  the 
Master  these  creeds,  taken  in  connection  with  the  two 
sacraments,  and  the  practice  of  Christian  worship,  will 
be  found  adequate.  Remember,  we  are  considering 
what  shall  be  the  basis  of  intercommunion  of  churches, 
not  what  shall  be  the  right  treatment  of  specific 
individuals.  For  a  basis  of  negotiation  between 
churches  these  ancient  creeds,  formally  adopted,  and 
reasonably  understood,  would  suffice.  See  where  this 
would  carry  us.  Leaving  on  one  side  the  Unitarians, 
who  are  a  small  community  in  Christendom,  and 
eccentrics  like  those  who  are  now  calling  themselves, 
somewhat  oddly,  "  New  Theologians,"  we  should  find 
ourselves  in  touch  with  the  whole  of  the  great  English- 
speaking  churches.  This  is  a  basis  of  negotiation,  not 
of  settlement.  Agreed  on  points  of  fundamental 
doctrine,  and  expressing  our  agreement  by  a  formal 
acceptance  of  these  two  ancient  formularies  of  faith, 
we  can  recognize  the  existence  of  the  Christian 
character,  and  proceed  to  discuss  with  temper  and 
hopefulness  the  practical  question.  In  the  interest  of 
discipleship  itself,  Holy  Communion  must  be  con- 
ditioned by  previous  instruction,  and  by  a  formal 
recognition  of  the  instructed.  In  theory  every  church 
admits  this ;  but  in  practice  there  is  great  confusion, 
very  little  mutual  knowledge,  often  great  carelessness 
in  enforcing  formal  rules.  Why  should  not  the  churches, 
or  some  of  them,  come  to  a  definite  arrangement  on 

55 


Westminster  Sermons 


that  point,  so  that  throughout  the  whole  area  of 
Protestant  Christianity  the  indispensable  elements  of 
the  Christian  faith  should  be  seriously  taught  to  those 
who  are  to  be  admitted  to  Holy  Communion,  and  the 
character  of  communicant  should  carry  a  definite 
assurance  of  so  much  knowledge  ?  I  would  make  the 
covenant  of  intercommunion  involve  a  restoration  of 
discipline  in  the  churches,  securing  careful  instruction 
in  the  faith,  and  a  formal  admission  of  the  instructed 
person  into  communion  after  a  public  profession  of 
belief.  Baxter  in  his  admirable  treatise  on  "  Con- 
firmation "  believed  that  it  was  possible  to  find  an 
Irenicon  in  that  ordinance. 

"  Here  is  a  medicine  so  effectual  to  heal  our  breaches,  and 
set  our  disordered  societies  in  joint  (being  owned  in  whole  by 
the  Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Congregational,  and  Erastian,  and 
in  half,  by  the  Anabaptists),  that  nothing  but  our  own  self- 
conceitedness,  perverseness,  laziness,  wilful  enmity  to  the  peace 
of  the  churches,  is  able  to  deprive  us  of  a  blessed  success." 

The  point  of  agreement  was  the  necessity  of  a  pro- 
fession of  faith  from  everyone  "  that  layeth  claim  to 
Church  privileges  and  ordinances  proper  to  adult 
members."  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  greatest 
Anglicans,  like  Andrewes,  were  opposed  to  confirma- 
tion of  young  children,  although  already  the  disposition 
was  showing  itself  to  magnify  the  quasi-sacramental 
aspect  of  the  ordinance,  and  to  administer  it  to  mere 
children.  If  we  could  agree,  not  of  course  in  the 
ceremony  of  Confirmation,  which  might  well  be  left  to 
the  discretion  of  the  churches,  but  in  the  substance  of 
teaching,  and  in  the  solemnity  and  formal  character  of 
the  public  profession,  and  if  the  communicant  members 
were  duly  enrolled  and  the  registers  carefully  guarded, 

56 


Intercommunion  and  Reunion 


then  the  churches  would  be  equipped  for  mutual 
alliance,  and  intercommunion  on  the  basis  of  the  two 
creeds  would  be  a  practical  policy.  I  may  observe  that 
the  educational  advance  of  the  non-episcopalian  clergy, 
to  which  I  adverted  above,  tends  to  facilitate  a  working 
arrangement  of  the  kind  indicated.  If  common 
education  in  theology  for  the  ministers  of  the  federated 
churches  could  also  be  developed,  a  relatively  easy 
matter,  towards  which  some  advances  have  already  been 
made  with  very  happy  consequences,  the  reasonableness 
of  such  an  agreement  for  the  teaching  of  communicants 
in  all  the  churches  would  be  made  more  than  ever  evident. 

9.  I  shall  perhaps  be  asked  what  precisely  inter- 
communion would  mean  in  practice.  Well,  two  things 
obviously.  Travelling  communicants  of  all  the  federated 
churches  would  possess  a  recognized  title  to  the  good 
offices  of  every  church  within  the  federation.  There 
would  be  an  end  of  the  sad  situation  which  at  present 
exists,  in  which  genuine  Christians  are  not  free,  or 
feel  themselves  not  free,  to  receive  the  Lord's  Supper, 
when  they  are  so  placed  as  to  be  outside  the  minis- 
trations of  their  particular  denomination.  That  is  one 
advantage,  and  no  slight  one.  Then,  on  special 
occasions,  and  in  connection  with  common  Christian 
efforts,  all  the  federated  churches  would  act  together, 
arranging  in  some  central  and  convenient  church  a 
celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion  at  which  denomi- 
national distinctions  should  be  frankly  ignored,  and  all 
the  world  should  be  able  to  see  a  visible  and  solemn 
affirmation  of  Christian  fellowship.  This  also  would  be 
an  advantage  of  no  slight  value.  Best  of  all,  when  once 
such  frank  mutual  recognition  had  been  established, 

57 


Westminster  Sermons 


it  would  be  not  only  possible,  but  even  inevitable, 
to  take  steps  to  put  an  end  to  the  wasteful  and 
irritating  competition,  and  overlapping,  which  now 
everywhere  weaken  religion.  I  was  studying  the 
religious  census  of  the  United  States  recently,  and 
observed  with  melancholy  wonder  the  evidence  it 
affords  of  overlapping  due  to  religious  separatism. 
For  the  twenty  million  communicants  or  members  of 
the  Protestant  churches,  no  less  than  fifty-three  million 
sittings  in  church  are  provided.  This,  in  a  population 
of  eighty-four  millions,  means  that  there  are  sufficient 
sittings  provided  to  accommodate  the  entire  population 
of  the  United  States,  excluding  those  who  may  fairly 
be  supposed  to  be  prevented  by  sufficient  causes  from 
attending.  Yet  all  the  churches  are  continually 
lamenting  the  spiritual  destitution  of  the  country,  and 
exerting  themselves  to  build  more  churches.  If  there 
were  reasonable  co-operation  there  would  be  no  spiritual 
destitution,  and  the  efforts  now  being  directed  to 
church-building  could  be  directed  into  other  channels. 
In  a  less  flagrant  degree  the  same  thing  is  true  of 
this  country.  Even  the  least  impressionable  and  most 
rigidly  denominational  of  people  are  being  compelled 
to  take  account  of  the  irrational  wastefulness  of 
denominational  competition.  If,  then,  there  were  a 
federation  of  churches  expressed  in  the  covenant  of 
intercommunion,  the  door  would  be  open  for  friendly 
arrangements,  by  which  these  mischiefs  of  competition 
and  overlapping  could  be  abated.  There  would  be  no 
hindrance  to  the  free  action  of  Christian  common 
sense,  and  the  healing  influence  of  true  religion. 

to.  I  say  nothing  of  the  more  distant  consequences 

58 


Intercommunion  and  Reunion 


of  the  situation,  the  improvement  of  relationships 
throughout  the  country,  the  elimination  of  the  bitter 
political  prejudices  which  are  now  able  to  fasten  on  to 
the  older  denominational  strifes,  and  charge  them  with 
a  new  and  venomous  significance.  Even  the  vexed 
question  of  disestablishment  would  have  another  and 
a  less  hopeless  aspect  when  it  was  wholly  severed  from 
any  suspicion  of  sectarian  jealousy,  and  could  be  dis- 
cussed in  connection  with  the  single  interest  of  Christ's 
kingdom.  Disendowment  might  well  be  removed  from 
the  policy,  when  the  whole  subject  was  regarded,  not 
as  the  interest  of  a  single  church,  but  as  the  common 
concern  of  the  whole  federation.  On  these  points, 
however,  I  forbear  to  dwell. 

II.  It  may  be  said  that  such  a  project  is  chimerical. 
I  reply,  first,  that  the  hopeful  beginnings  of  federation 
are  already  existent  in  America,  where  a  federal  council 
of  no  less  than  thirty-three  churches,  including  seventeen 
out  of  the  twenty  million  Protestant  communicants,  has 
been  formed  with  the  hope  of  developing  into  something 
effective.  The  objects  of  this  federation  are  thus 
formulated  :  — 

1.  To  express  the  fellowship  and  catholic  unity  of 
the  Christian  Church. 

2.  To  bring  the  Christian  bodies  of  America  into 
united  service  for  Christ  and  the  world. 

3.  To  encourage  devotional  fellowship  and  mutual 
counsel  concerning  the  spiritual  life  and  religious 
activities  of  the  churches. 

4.  To  secure  a  larger  combined  influence  for  the 
churches  of  Christ  in  all  matters  affecting  the  moral 
and  social  condition  of  the  people,  so  as  to  promote 

59 


Westminster  Sermons 


the  application  of  the  law  of  Christ  in  every  relation  of 
human  life. 

Next,  I  reply  that  whatever  difficulties  may  attach 
to  such  a  federation  of  Christian  churches  on  the  basis 
of  fundamental  belief  are  as  nothing  compared  with 
those  which  obstruct  the  success  of  the  Lambeth  policy. 
The  exaltation  of  episcopal  government  into  a  first 
principle  of  Christianity  has  gone  very  far,  and  is  being 
pressed  with  almost  feverish  energy.  Young  bishops  in 
great  sees,  with  vast  enthusiasm  and  a  great  reserve  of 
physical  strength,  richly  endowed  with  popular  gifts, 
and  personally  lovable  on  many  counts,  are  throwing 
themselves  into  the  episcopalian  crusade,  and  it  would 
be  idle  to  deny  that  a  considerable  effect  is  coming 
from  their  efforts.  Anglican  history  has  been  re-written 
from  the  episcopalian  point  of  view.  Even  the  popular 
device  of  the  pageant  has  been  resorted  to  in  order  to 
advertise  the  episcopate,  and  stamp  on  the  popular 
mind  the  notion  of  the  Anglican  Church  as  sui  generis, 
whose  very  essential  character  is  uttered  in  the  episco- 
pate. Along  with  this  various  teaching  has  gone  a 
policy  of  separation.  A  wedge  is  being  driven  between 
English  churchmen  and  their  fellow  religionists.  Even 
where  co-operation  has  existed  in  the  past,  constant 
and  earnest  efforts  are  being  made  to  prevent  its  con- 
tinuance. I  will  not  allude  to  the  educational  con- 
troversy, beyond  observing  that  there  was  the  pre- 
eminent opportunity  for  the  Church  of  England  to 
have  recovered  fraternity  with  evangelical  noncon- 
formists, and  that  the  opportunity  was  wilfully,  almost 
insolently,  wasted.  We  come  out  of  that  conflict  more 
completely  isolated  and  self-satisfied  than  we  went  into 

60 


Intercommunion  and  Reunion 

it.  No  retrospect  could  well  be  sadder  to  a  serious 
observer  of  English  Christianity.  A  new  importance 
is  being  attached  to  everything  in  the  Prayer  Book 
which  separates  ;  oblivion  is  falling  upon  everything 
which  reconciles.  In  India  a  squalid  controversy  over 
the  use  of  the  garrison  churches  has  resulted  in  a  formal 
separation  between  the  Anglicans  and  Presbyterians, 
instead  of  being  made  the  occasion  of  a  natural  and 
salutary  co-operation.  In  Canada,  where  a  most  hope- 
ful attempt  to  build  up  a  national  church  on  the  basis 
of  evangelical  faith  is  in  progress,  the  Church  of  England 
refuses  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it.  This  is  but  one 
of  the  ill-consequences  of  the  Pan-Anglican  conferences, 
which  necessarily  have  the  effect  of  magnifying  episcopal 
authority,  and  tying  the  colonial  and  missionary  churches 
to  the  narrow  platform  which  the  mother  Church 
adopts  for  herself.  What  possibility  of  success  is  there 
in  the  policy  of  resolute  episcopalianism  ?  What  can 
come  of  it  but  a  deepening  alienation  of  the  general 
conscience,  and  a  shrivelling  of  the  Church  into  an 
episcopalian  sect  ?  Meanwhile  the  clergy  are  being 
trained  increasingly  in  theological  colleges  where  the 
corner  stone  of  the  teaching  is  that  false  doctrine  o 
"apostolical  succession,"  from  which  inevitably  flow 
all  the  historic  consequences  of  sacerdotalism.  Even 
the  evangelical  party  yields  to  the  prevailing  current, 
and  affects  to  believe  in  a  theory  which  is  absolutely 
inconsistent  with  the  first  postulate  of  spiritual  religion. 
Truly  the  outlook  is  not  hopeful  for  one  who  seeks  the 
peace  of  Jerusalem.  Meanwhile  there  are  great  questions, 
going  to  the  foundations  of  the  faith  and  morals  of  the 
Christian  Church,  which  are  demanding  attention,  the 

61 


Westminster  Sermons 


wise  answering  of  which  will  require  all  the  varied 
wisdom  and  learning  of  the  churches,  and  which  cannot 
be  rightly  handled  by  a  hierarchy  which  finds  its  claim 
to  attention,  and  its  certificate  of  spiritual  competence, 
in  an  historical  fiction.  Yet  this  we  may  remember  for 
our  comfort :  there  are  forces  too  strong  for  the  currents 
of  insular  prejudice  and  the  narrow  fervour  of  Anglican 
sectarianism,  and  these  will  compel,  though  perhaps 
with  much  loss  and  suffering  to  individuals,  the  final 
conquest  of  the  truth.  "  The  kingdom  of  God  cometh 
not  with  observation,  for  lo,  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
within  you." 


62 


V 


ANGLICANISM  AND  REUNION1 

We  preach  NOT  OURSELVES,  BUT  CHRIST  JESUS  as  lord,  and 
ourselves  as  your  servants  for  jesus'  sake. 

2  Corinthians  iv.  5. 

Trinity  Sunday  is  "the  Festival  of  Revelation." 
We  bless  God  for  His  self-manifestation  in  His  Son. 
We  lift  up  our  hearts  from  earth  to  heaven,  and 
reverently  exult  in  the  "knowledge"  of  the  Father, 
which  has  been  opened  to  us  by  the  ministry  of  the 
Incarnate.  All  other  aspects  of  the  Gospel  are  seen  to 
be  secondary  and  contingent.  This  is  primary  and 
fundamental.  From  the  right  understanding  of  the 
mind  of  God,  and  the  true  apprehension  of  His  essential 
Being,  there  will  grow,  there  cannot  but  grow,  the  per- 
ception of  right  relationship  with  Him,  and,  if  with 
Him,  then  manifestly  also  with  man,  and  with  nature, 
which  are  His  creatures  and  vestures  and  instruments. 
Theology  is  the  effort  to  state  intelligibly  that  primary 
and  fundamental  truth  about  God  :  morality  is  the 
effort  to  draw  out  in  practice  its  rightful  implicit  obliga- 
tions. Thus  all  Christianity,  alike  in  the  region  of 
thought  and  in  that  of  conduct,  is  gathered  up  in  the 
faith,  which  we  profess  to-day.    "  This  is  life  eternal, 

1  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  Trinity  Sunday,  June  14, 
1908,  being  the  eve  of  the  Pan-Anglican  Congress. 


63 


Westminster  Sermons 


that  they  should  know  Thee  the  only  true  God,  and 
Him  whom  thou  didst  send,  even  Jesus  Christ." 

By  a  just  and  natural  association  of  ideas  the  festival 
of  revelation  has  become  the  festival  of  mission. 
Trinity  Sunday  is  the  principal  time  for  ordination. 
The  knowledge  of  God,  made  known  once  for  all  to 
mankind  in  and  through  Christ,  has  to  be  brought  to 
the  successive  generations  of  the  human  race  through 
the  visible  society  of  Christians,  the  holy  Catholic 
Church;  and  this  solemn  task  can  only  be  fulfilled  by 
the  Church  as  such — not  a  mere  multitude  of  volunteers 
scattering  at  will  over  the  earth,  and  proclaiming  what 
truth  they  could  perceive  for  themselves  ;  but  the  ordered 
society  of  Christ's  disciples,  not  alone  carrying  the 
message  of  saving  grace  to  individual  sinners,  but  also 
offering  the  sphere  of  a  true  social  life,  and  recalling 
humanity  at  every  point  of  its  natural  self-expression  to 
its  true  ideal.  "  Thy  kingdom  come  "  is  the  aspiration  of 
Christians,  and  the  "  coming  of  the  kingdom  "  cannot 
possibly  be  identified  with  a  mere  preaching  of  individual 
salvation  ;  it  must  include  the  building  up  on  the  earth 
of  a  righteous  order,  which  shall  make  possible  the 
fullest  development  of  individual  life.  Every  ordered 
society,  moreover,  must  be  organized,  and  disciplined  ; 
and  both  organization  and  discipline  presuppose  a  duly 
constituted  government.  Therefore  the  Church  must 
have  its  ministry,  appointed  to  office  with  publicity, 
solemnity,  and  according  to  a  recognized  system.  The 
mission  of  the  Incarnate  Son  of  God  is  perpetuated  in 
the  mission  of  the  visible  Church,  and  this  mission  of 
the  visible  Church  is,  in  certain  important  senses, 
fulfilled  through  the  duly  appointed  ministry.    So  far 

64 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

there  is  a  practical  unanimity  among  Christians.    At  this 
point,  however,  the  acutest  and  most  deplorable  con- 
troversies have  arisen  ;  and  at  this  moment  the  visible 
Church  is  broken  up  into  fragments  precisely  on  the 
very  matter,  which  it  might  have  been  supposed  would 
have  been  the  guarantee  of  ecclesiastical  harmony. 
The  exclusive  claims  of  one  or  another  hierarchy  are 
rending  asunder  the  society  of  believers.    To  add  an 
element  of  whimsical   pathos  to  the  situation,  every 
exclusive  claim  is  urged  on  the  specific  ground  that  the 
unity  of  the  Church  is  at  stake  in  its  recognition.  Thus 
the  advocate  of  the  exclusive  validity  of  the  Roman 
Catholic   ministry  is   never  weary  of  upholding  the 
Papacy  as  the  very  pledge  and  instrument  of  ecclesi- 
astical oneness ;   and  you  have  but  to  glance  at  the 
waxing  literature  of  episcopalian  advocacy  to  see  that 
the  interest  of  unity  is  constantly  pleaded  in  excuse  for 
an  unyielding  attitude  on  the  subject  of  "  apostolic 
succession."     How  empty  of  value  such  contentions 
are  is  apparent  to  every  one  who  is  not  himself  an 
interested  party.    The  Papacy  has  not  preserved  unity, 
for  the  tremendous  schism  of  east  and  west,  and  the 
break  up  of  western  Christendom,  and  the  melancholy 
alienation  of  multitudes  of  its  own  adherents  throughout 
the  sphere  of  its  authority,  demonstrate  the  contrary. 
Episcopacy  is  equally  impotent,  as  the  situation  through- 
out the  English-speaking  world  attests.    Whatever  else 
may  be  true  about  divine  rights  vested  in  hierarchies, 
it  cannot  be  questioned  that  they  are  not  really  favour- 
able to  that  ecclesiastical  unity  which  they  claim  to 
secure.     It  is  remarkably  suggestive  that  the  New 
Testament  provides  no  clear  teaching  on  the  subject  of 

65  E 


Westminster  Sermons 

the  constitution  of  the  Christian  ministry.    This  state- 
ment is  by  no  means  invalidated,  or  even  weakened,  by 
the    fact    that  every  form  of  ecclesiastical  order  is 
supposed  by  its  advocates  to  be  based  on  the  witness  of 
scripture.      The  single  circumstance,  that  there  has 
been  no  agreement  as  to  the  meaning  and  reference  of 
the  passages  advanced  in  controversy — that  Christian 
students,  equally  sincere  and  equally  well  qualified, 
have  differed  in  their  interpretation  of  the  same  texts — 
demonstrates  that  those  texts  do  not  bear  a  clear  sense, 
which  none  can  miss.    It  is  the  case  that  the  nearer  we 
approach  to  the  source  of  the  Christian  ministry,  the 
more  impossible  it  is  to  perceive  its  precise  constitution  ; 
that  the  farther  we  travel  from  that  source,  the  more 
definite  becomes  its  theory,  the  more  extensive  its  claims, 
the  more  rigid  its  form.    To  any  reflective  Christian  it 
cannot  but  be  a  matter  for  deep  and  anxious  considera- 
tion, what  ought  to  be  the  effect  on  his  present  action 
of  this  remarkable  difference  between  the  earliest  and 
the  latest  phases  of  Christianity.    Now,  when  Christian 
men  are  everywhere  lamenting  their  "  unhappy  divi- 
sions " ;  when  from  all  sides  evidence  is  accumulating 
as  to  the  miserable  consequences  of  those  divisions ; 
when  the  responsible  authorities  in  every  branch  of  the 
Christian  Church  are  debating  what  steps  may  be  taken 
to  recover  some  measure  of  working  harmony ;  now, 
surely,  if  ever,  every  one  of  us  is  bound  to  inquire  for 
himself  whether  we  can  as  a  church  be  justified  in 
placing  the  Christian  ministry,  or  rather,  the  precise 
constitution  of  the  Christian  ministry,  in  a  position  of 
fundamental  importance,  which  assuredly  it  did  not 
hold  in  the  days  of  the  apostolic  founders  of  the  Church. 

66 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

Moreover,  when  from  the  New  Testament  we  pass  to 
the  records  of  the  early  Church,  and  endeavour  to  col- 
lect from  them  some  accurate  information  as  to  the  actual 
system  which  then  prevailed,  we  find  that  the  silence 
of  the  apostolic  writings  is  interpreted  by  the  manifold- 
ness  of  the  primitive  polity.  Our  historical  scholars 
have  recovered  for  us  the  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical 
conditions  in  the  first  two  centuries,  and  we  perceive 
that  the  Church  then,  when  the  apostolic  tradition  was 
recent  and  powerful,  was  variously  organized.  In  Asia 
Minor  there  were  bishops ;  in  Rome  and  Alexandria 
there  were  none.  Along  with  both  bishops  and  pres- 
byters were  still  to  be  found  through  a  great  part  of  that 
period  the  representatives  of  the  oldest  ministry  of  all, 
that  of  "  prophets  "  and  "  apostles  "  called  to  their  work 
by  direct  and  manifest  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Let 
me  observe  that  this  better  knowledge  of  the  primitive 
Church  is  a  very  recent  thing,  and  has  not  yet  extended 
itself  over  the  greater  part  of  our  communion.  The 
older  generation  of  clergyman  was  taught  to  believe  in 
the  "  apostolic  succession  "  through  bishops  as  a 
doctrine  securely  based  on  scripture  and  history ;  the 
older  text-books,  which  still  retain  their  place  in  many 
theological  colleges  and  in  countless  clerical  libraries, 
present  a  view  of  primitive  Christian  history  which  reflects 
the  clear-cut  theory  which  the  writers  held,  but  are  danger- 
ously defective  as  records  of  historic  fact.  Take  this  single 
example  from  one  of  the  very  best  of  those  manuals,  the 
work  of  a  great  scholar,  whose  memory  is  justly  honoured 
in  the  Church — Bishop  Wordsworth  of  Lincoln — 

''The  universal  practice  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  from  its  foun- 
dation for  more  than  fifteen  hundred  years   without  interruption, 

67  E  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


shows  episcopacy  to  be  of  divine  institution,  and  to  have  been 
regarded  by  the  Church  as  of  inviolable  authority."  1 

This  statement,  clear,  categorical,  admitting  appa- 
rently no  modification,  and  leading  manifestly  to  one 
conclusion,  may  have  been  possible  in  the  state  of 
knowledge  which  existed  in  1843,  when  the  manual 
called  "  Theophilus  Anglicanus"  was  published,  but 
assuredly  it  is  not  possible  now.  Episcopacy,  we  know, 
was  not  the  original  constitution  of  the  Christian 
Church ;  it  was  not  universal  for  at  least  two  cen- 
turies ;  if  divine  institution  be  held  to  imply  dominical 
or  apostolic  appointment,  and  to  convey  exclusive 
validity,  then  episcopacy  cannot  be  credited  with 
divine  institution. 

In  view,  then,  of  this  better  knowledge  of  the  primitive 
history,  ought  it  not  reasonably  to  follow  that  the 
Anglican  doctrine  with  respect  to  episcopacy  should 
be  modified,  or  rather,  that  the  older  Anglican  doctrine 
should  be  restored,  and  the  exalted  episcopalianism 
which  is  now  dominant  should  be  laid  aside  ? 

Undoubtedly  there  is  much  unrest  of  the  Anglican 
conscience  on  the  subject.  Even  the  advocates  of 
exclusive  episcopalianism  appear  to  be  adopting  a  line 
of  argument  which  mitigates  in  phrase,  if  in  nothing 
else,  the  intolerable  arrogance  of  the  older  theory. 
Thus  the  Pauline  metaphor  of  the  body  is  pressed  and 
strained  to  bear  out  the  requirements  of  the  sacerdotal 
conception  of  the  Christian  ministry.  Just  as  the  natural 
organs  are  necessary,  because  only  through  them  can 
the  specific  functions  of  the  body  which  they  exercise  be 


1  Vide  p.  87,  twelfth  edition. 
68 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

exercised  at  all ;  so  it  is  argued  the  clergy  are  indis- 
pensable, though  truly  all  Christians  are  "  priests " ; 
and  apart  from  the  clergy  there  can  be  no  valid  sacrament. 
But  it  is  ever  dangerous  to  argue  from  metaphors,  and 
in  this  case  more  than  ever  dangerous,  for  the  stoic 
metaphor  of  the  body  was  elaborated  by  S.  Paul  for 
another  purpose  than  that  of  proving  an  exclusive  right 
of  the  ordained  clergy.  The  key  to  the  twelfth  chapter 
of  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  is  the  thirteenth. 
The  apostle  draws  his  picture  of  the  body  with  many 
diverse  functions,  many  aspects  and  degrees  of  service 
and  comeliness,  but  with  one  life  stirring  through  every 
organ,  and  one  head  directing  every  movement,  not  in 
order  to  establish  the  exclusive  claims  of  a  ministry,  but 
in  order  to  lead  the  Corinthians  to  the  grand  conclusion 
of  that  "  more  excellent  way  "  of  love,  which  every 
form  of  selfish  individualism  transgresses  and  ignores. 
In  the  latest  version  of  the  exclusive  theory,  as  in  the 
cruder  earlier  version,  we  are  brought  to  the  same 
ruinous  consequence,  viz.,  that  a  secondary  factor  of 
the  Christian  religion  is  exalted  into  the  front  rank  of 
importance.  The  grace  of  the  Christian  covenant  is 
made  to  depend  on  the  specific  form  of  order  which  the 
Church  has  accepted.  In  the  words  of  an  eminent  living 
bishop,  the  argument  compels  the  conclusion  that  "a 
ministry  not  episcopally  received  is  invalid,  that  is  to 
say,  falls  outside  the  conditions  of  covenanted  security, 
and  cannot  justify  its  existence  in  terms  of  the 
covenant."1 

A  fortnight  ago  the  general  assembly  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland  was,  according  to  custom,  brought  to  a 
1  Vide  Gore,  "  Church  and  Ministry,"  p.  345. 
69 


Westminster  Sermons 


close  by  an  important  address  from  the  moderator. 
In  that  address  Dr.  Marshall  reviewed  the  prospects 
of  reunion  among  Christians;  and  with  respect  to 
this  doctrine  of  the  necessity  of  episcopal  government 
he  spoke  with  just  decisiveness  : — 

"  It  is,  I  think,  generally  felt  that  so  long  as  this  claim  is 
put  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Anglican  Church,  any  question 
of  union  with  it  is  a  practical  impossibility.  The  almost  universal 
feeling  among  us  is  that  nothing  can  be  done  to  draw  nearer  the 
Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  Churches  till  that  claim  is  either 
abandoned  or  greatly  modified." 

The  moderator  proceeded  to  speak  of  the  forthcoming 
Pan-Anglican  Congress,  and  to  offer  for  the  assistance 
of  the  Anglican  authorities  a  statement  of  the  views 
which  a  representative  Presbyterian  must  needs  take  of 
the  question  of  reunion  : — 

"  I  think  we  are  entitled  to  ask  the  Anglican  Church  very 
seriously  to  consider  (if  the  claims  to  which  I  have  referred  are  to 
be  seriously  pressed  upon  the  Church  of  Scotland)  what  that 
Church  would  be  called  upon  to  do.  It  would  be  called  upon,  if  I 
rightly  understand  the  claims  of  many  Anglicans,  practically  to 
admit  that  it  is  not  now,  or  may  not  now  be,  has  never  been,  or 
may  never  have  been,  a  true  Church  ;  that  its  ministers  have 
taught,  and  ruled,  and  administered  the  sacraments,  without  proper 
authority,  and  that  it  has  been,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  in  a 
state  of  schism  from  the  one  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church. 
It  would  also  have  to  face  this  fact,  that  in  the  event  of  a  union 
taking  place,  either  all  its  ministers,  or  at  any  rate  those  of  them 
who  might  be  called  to  rule  in  the  united  Church,  would  have, 
practically,  to  disown  their  ordination  and  accept  the  ordination  of 
a  prelate.  I  put  on  one  side  all  questions  of  the  ordering  of  public 
worship,  as  I  imagine  that  these  could  be  adjusted  with  compara- 
tively little  difficulty  ;  and  questions  of  doctrine,  for  I  believe  the 
doctrine  of  the  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  Churches  to  be  practi- 
cally identical." 

Of  course  we  shall  all  agree  that,  if  vital  truth  be  at 
stake,  then  no  gravity  of  consequences  can  be  allowed 


70 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

to  release  us  from  the  obligation  to  stand  firmly  to  it. 
If  the  exclusive  validity  of  an  episcopal  ministry  be 
part  of  Christ's  revelation  of  truth,  then  at  all  hazards 
we  must  assert  it,  and  endure  whatever  results  shall 
follow.    Yet,  surely,  we  shall  all  allow  that  nothing 
short  of  vital  truth  could  justify  such  an  insistence  on 
episcopacy,  and  that,  if  inwardly  persuaded,  as  many,  I 
believe  most,  English  churchmen  are,  that  episcopacy, 
although  possibly  the  best,  is  not  the  only  form  of 
legitimate  church  order,   we  yet  allow  ourselves  to 
acquiesce  in  the  intolerant   attitude,  which  is  now 
fashionable  in  Anglican  circles,  we  shall  be  grievously 
guilty.    Can  we  as  a  church  rightly  continue  to  place  the 
"  historic  episcopate"  on  the  same  level  of  importance  as 
the  scripture,  the  sacraments,  and  the  catholic  creeds  ? 
On  the  answer  to  that  question  everything  really  at  this 
juncture  depends.     My  whole  purpose  in  preaching 
to-night  is  to  persuade  every  churchman,  as  well  clergy- 
man as  layman,  resolutely  and  honestly  to  answer  it  for 
himself,  and  then  to  bring  his  personal  influence  to  bear 
on  the  general  policy  of  the  Anglican  Church  as  a 
whole. 

The  great  congress  which  will  enter  on  its  sessions 
this  week  has  included  in  its  programme  the  discussion 
of  Anglican  relations  to  other  Christian  bodies;  and  the 
subject  has  been  dealt  with  in  a  series  of  the  "  Pan- 
Anglican  Papers,"  issued  in  advance  of  the  discussions 
to  inform  and  prepare  the  members.  I  have  studied 
with  much  attention  this  series  of  papers,  as  well 
because  the  subject  treated  appears  to  me  of  extreme 
and  critical  importance,  as  because  I  supposed  that 
the  writers  had  been  selected  for  their  task  as  being 

7i 


Westminster  Sermons 


competent  and  representative  churchmen.  They  belong 
to  all  branches  of  the  Anglican  communion,  and  illus- 
trate the  Anglican  attitude  towards  other  Christians  in 
every  part  of  the  world.  I  desire  to  draw  your  particular 
attention  to  the  emphasis  which  almost  all  of  them 
place  on  the  episcopal  ministry,  an  emphasis  which  I 
must  needs  think  is  excessive  and  unwarrantable  and 
full  of  ill  promise.  Here  are  a  few  examples.  Let  us 
begin  with  India. 

Of  the  Syrian,  Armenian,  and  Greek  Churches  in 
India  the  examining  chaplain  of  the  bishop  of 
Calcutta  tells  us  that  they  "  furnish  an  object- 
lesson  of  the  notes  of  true  catholicity,"  and  adds  that 
"  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  friendly  intercourse 
between  these  bodies  and  Anglicans."1  When  the  same 
authority  has  to  speak  of  the  non-episcopalian  churches 
at  work  in  India,  his  tone  is  strangely  different. 
"  Though,"  he  says,  "the  political  and  other  reasons, 
which  make  these  bodies  stand  aloof  from  the  Anglican 
communion  in  the  home  lands,  do  not  exist  in  India, 
yet  there  seems  to  be  no  reasonable  hope  that  church 
fellowship  between  them  and  Anglicans  can  be  effected 
in  this  country."  He  tells  us  frankly  that  the  "  total 
following"  of  the  Anglican  Church  in  India  "  is  about 
a  ninth  of  the  whole  Christian  population  "  ;  he  dilates 
with  pathetic  earnestness  on  the  evils  of  the  existing 
divisions,  and  admits  that  the  principal  bar  to  unity  is 
the  insistence  on  episcopal  ordination  as  an  essential 
factor  of  church  life.  "  It  would,"  he  says,  "be  no  easy 
matter  for  bodies  of  Indian  Christians,  some  of  which 

1  Vide  Pan-Anglican  Paper  S.F.  (b)  by  the  Rev.  A.  N. 
Banergii,  B.A.,  Examining  Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta. 

72 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

are  large  in  certain  districts,  and  several  of  which  have 
acquired  stability  and  strength,  to  accept  this  condition, 
as  it  would  practically  admit  the  invalidity  of  their 
ministry."  Episcopacy  is,  however,  to  this  writer  so 
certainly  part  of  the  divine  constitution  of  the  Church 
that  he  appears  unconscious  of  the  burdens  he  is  laying 
both  on  the  reason  and  on  the  conscience  of  English 
churchmen.  Given  episcopacy,  and  no  superstition  is 
too  gross,  no  discipline  is  too  lax  to  disqualify  a  church 
for  the  fullest  recognition ;  wanting  episcopacy,  no 
church,  however  apostolic  in  labour,  or  rich  in  spiritual 
gifts,  can  be  recognized  ! 

Pass  from  the  east  to  the  west ;  from  churches 
which  are  wrestling  with  the  urgent  problems  of 
missionary  work  among  non-Christian  populations  to 
churches  which  are  mainly  pastoral  and  belong  to  our 
own  kith  and  kin.  In  America  the  lay  deputy  of  the 
diocese  of  Missouri  tells  us,1  "  We  Anglicans  are  a 
feeble  folk,"  and  adds  that  "  whole  sections  of  our  less 
well  populated  States  have  not  so  much  as  heard 
whether  there  be  an  '  Episcopal  Church '."  In  such 
circumstances  it  might  have  been  supposed  that  a 
humbler  note  would  have  been  audible  in  the  suggestions 
which  this  writer  had  to  offer  on  the  subject  of  Anglican 
relations  with  "  separated  bodies."  The  case  is,  indeed, 
different.  We  are  assured  "  that  there  is  less  and  less 
possibility  of  reunion  with  our  separated  brethren  as 
'churches,'"  that  these  "separated  brethren"  have 
"  erred  and  are  deceived  by  false  prophets,"  that,  if 
only  Anglicans  will  stand  firm  and  make  no  concessions 

1  Vide  Pan-Anglican  Papers  S.F.  II.  (c)  and  (d)  by  Henry 
Leverett  Chase,  Lay  Deputy  of  the  Diocese  of  Missouri,  U.S.A. 

73 


Westminster  Sermons 


whatever,  "  our  separated  brothers "  will  rally  to  the 
Anglican  Church  "  as  the  appointed  organ  of  God's 
grace  to  a  regenerated  world."  Truly,  I  am  ashamed 
to  inflict  on  you  such  utterances,  and  I  would  not 
do  so  were  it  not  that  they  are  the  utterances  of 
those  who  have  been  deliberately  selected  as  repre- 
sentative Anglicans,  capable  of  informing  and  guiding 
the  judgment  of  their  fellow  churchmen.  Extravagant 
as  the  language  of  the  lay  deputy  of  the  diocese  of 
Missouri  undoubtedly  is,  it  cannot  fairly  be  said  to  be 
substantially  at  variance  with  the  general  tenour  of  the 
Pan-Anglican  papers  on  the  subject  of  relations  with 
non-Anglican  bodies.  "  Dissent,  here,"  writes  an 
Australian  clergyman,  "  as  in  the  old  country,  means 
not  separation  from  an  established  or  prescribed  form 
of  religion,  but  from  the  Catholic  Church."  Yet  the 
same  writer  candidly  admits  both  the  monstrous  evils 
of  existing  divisions  and  the  grave  defects  of  the 
Anglican  system.  Another  Australian  writer,  the 
principal  of  the  Theological  School  at  Brisbane,1  is 
nervously  anxious  lest  there  should  be  any  weaken- 
ing of  the  Anglican  insistence  on  the  necessity  of 
episcopacy.  "  It  is,"  he  says,  "  of  the  most  vital 
importance  that  the  natural  desire  for  reunion  and 
comprehension  should  not  over-balance  the  tenacity 
with  which  we  cling  to  the  historic  episcopate  as  the 
golden  key  to  Christian  unity.  There  is  a  danger  that 
non-conforming  bodies  might  be  willing  to  accept 
episcopal  ordination  in  the  future  as  a  compromise 
instead  of  as  a  principle."     The  South  African  repre- 

1  Vide  Pan-Anglican  Paper  S.F.  I.  (d),  by  the  Rev.  Canon 
Tomlin,  principal  of  the  Theological  School,  Brisbane,  Australia 

74 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

sentatives  in  this  melancholy  symposium  write  in  the 
same  key  of  exalted  and  exclusive  episcopalianism. 
The  Bishop  of  Lebombo,  for  instance,  does  not  scruple 
to  describe  all  non-episcopalian  ministers  as  "  excep- 
tionally holy  laymen,  who  (in  many  cases  through  no 
fault  of  their  own)  have  been  prevented  from  being 
confirmed."1 

In  China  the  question  of  reunion  among  Protestant 
Christians  has  been  actively  discussed,  and  there  are 
many  indications  that  a  satisfactory  answer  will  be 
found.  "The  things  at  stake  are  so  important,"  writes 
Bishop  Graves,2  "  that  nothing  which  is  not  of  the 
very  life  of  the  Church  ought  to  keep  us  separate  from 
our  brethren."  He  tells  us  most  significantly  that 
"  the  feelings  of  the  converts  are  overwhelmingly  for 
union  with  Christians  of  their  own  race."  There 
appears  to  be  little  difficulty  in  reaching  a  working 
agreement  on  the  great  matters  of  faith,  of  morals,  of 
the  sacraments ;  but  on  the  matter  of  the  episcopate 
there  is  no  agreement  and  no  hope  of  agreement. 
"  The  historic  episcopate,"  says  the  bishop,  "  would 
certainly  not  be  accepted."  At  the  great  centenary 
conference  at  Shanghai  "it  was  sufficiently  evident  that 
in  the  opinion  of  most  of  its  members  the  historic 
episcopate  was  not  even  considered  as  a  possible  form 
for  the  future  Chinese  Church." 

Thus  it  is  confessedly  the  case  that  in  every  part  of 
the  Anglican  communion  the  same  fact  is  emerging  into 

1  Vide  Pan-Anglican  Paper  S.D.  4  (a),  by  the  Bishop  of 
Lebombo. 

2  Vide  Pan- Anglican  Paper  S.D.  4  (f),  by  Bishop  F.  R.  Graves, 
of  China. 


75 


Westminster  Sermons 


prominence.  Insistence  on  episcopacy  as  essential  to 
the  Christian  Church  is  becoming  the  note  of  Angli- 
canism, and  is  rendering  hopeless  that  reunion  of 
Christians  for  which  the  Anglican  Church  constantly 
professes  to  be  labouring. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  the  exclusive  theory 
remains  theory  without  affecting  practice,  or  comfort 
ourselves  with  the  notion  that  the  logic  of  facts  will 
surely  rectify  the  false  logic  of  the  seminaries.  Here 
is  a  frank  statement  by  a  South  African  clergyman, 
who  has  been  a  missionary  for  nearly  forty  years, 
and  now  directs  the  work  of  some  five-and-twenty 
persons.1 

"  The  Bechwana  were  first  evangelized  eighty  years  ago  by  the 
worthy  labours  of  the  London  Missionary  and  the  Wesleyan 
Societies.  We  Anglo-Catholics  have  come  into  the  field  far  too 
late.  Yet  we  have  to  teach  that  there  is  one  Holy  Catholic  and 
Apostolic  Church,  and  that  schism  from  it  is  as  great  a  sin  as 
adultery  or  lying.  The  appearances  are  dead  against  us.  We  are 
surrounded  by  these  large,  well-organized  missions — efficiently 
manned,  provided  with  ample  means — whilst  we  are  few  in  number, 
and  weak,  and  poor  ;  yet  we  claim  to  be  the  one  Church  of  Christ, 
whilst  they  are  only  human  institutions.  This  is  obviously  a 
strain  upon  our  teachers,  who  hear  on  every  hand  of  '  The 
Wesleyan  Church,'  '  The  London  Church,'  '  The  Lutheran  Church,' 
and  so  on  ;  these  being  the  old-established  Christian  bodies,  while 
we  are  people  of  yesterday.  Yet  if  we  accepted  the  position  of 
merely  another  sect,  varying  from  the  rest  merely  by  wearing 
white  linen  clothes  in  preaching  instead  of  black  ones,  the  first 
retort,  '  Why  do  you  intrude  among  these  old  churches  ? '  would 
be  obvious.  The  strong  and  persevering  maintenance  of  our 
catholic  position  is  the  only  justification  for  our  being  here  at  all  ; 
and  the  catechists  must  constantly  be  kept  up  to  the  mark  in  this 
respect." 

Can  any  considering  man  doubt  that  so  long  as  the 
attitude  thus  frankly  confessed  is  maintained  abroad, 

1  Vide  Pan-Anglican  Paper  5  (e),  by  Canon  W.  H.  R.  Bevan, 
Bloemfontein. 


76 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

and  left  unrebuked  at  home,  there  is  no  reasonable 
prospect  of  improving  the  relations  between  the 
Anglican  communion  and  the  other  branches  of 
reformed  Christianity  ?  Can  any  charitable  man  fail 
to  perceive  in  that  attitude  the  appropriate  external 
expression  of  the  very  spirit  of  loveless  self-assertion 
which  Christ  condemned  in  its  first  appearance,  when 
He  said  to  the  intolerant  son  of  Zebedee  respecting 
that  believer  who  cast  out  devils  in  the  Master's  name, 
but  who  followed  not  with  the  Apostles :  "  Forbid  him 
not :  for  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  for  us."  "  The 
English  churchman,"  writes  Dr.  Mason  truly  enough, 
"  stands  alone  in  the  world.  He  is  in  communion  with 
no  one  else,  in  east  or  west.  .  .  .  Our  isolation  is  com- 
plete. Is  it  our  fault  ?  and  if  so,  what  can  we  do  to 
amend  it  ? 1,1  He  attempts  to  answer  this  grave  and 
inevitable  question,  and  what  is  his  answer  ?  He 
would  leave  Rome  alone  for  the  present.  The  Eastern 
churches,  though  "  theoretically  they  do  not  acknow- 
ledge so  much  as  the  validity  of  our  baptism,"  might 
immediately  enter  on  terms  of  intercommunion  with 
us  "if  only  the  English  Church,  for  her  part,  is  vigilant 
to  maintain  her  own  discipline,  and  to  secure  loyalty  to 
her  own  doctrine."  So  far  the  spirit  of  a  large  charity 
seems  to  prevail ;  but  as  soon  as  the  learned  canon 
passes  out  of  the  charmed  circle  of  episcopacy,  his  tone 
hardens,  and  he  is  as  hopeless  as  the  rest.  "  The 
cleavage  between  the  principles  of  English  dissent  and 
our  own  is  so  great  that  it  hardly  appears  to  be  a 

1  Vide  Pan- Anglican  Paper  S.F.  II.  (g),  by  the  Rev. 
A.  J.  Mason,  D.D.,  Master  of  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge, 
and  Canon  of  Canterbury. 


77 


Westminster  Sermons 


matter  of  practical  politics  to  approach  them  at  once, 
officially,  with  a  view  to  union.  .  .  .  The  fundamental 
conceptions  of  the  Christian  religion  entertained  by 
churchmen  and  by  English  dissenters  in  general  are 
so  far  apart  that  it  is  useless  to  formulate  conditions  of 
reunion  with  them."  He  has  nothing  more  hopeful  to 
say  with  respect  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scot- 
land. He  concludes,  therefore,  that  we  had  best 
"  make  our  first  approaches  to  those  bodies  of  Christians 
who  are  agreed  in  principle  with  us,  if  any  such  are  to 
be  found,  and  not  with  those  who  are  in  principle 
opposed."  He  recognizes  three  groups  of  Christians 
as  thus  in  principle  agreed  with  English  churchmen. 
These  are  the  "Old  Catholics";  the  Lutheran 
Churches  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  which, 
though  destitute  of  a  true  apostolic  succession,  have 
preserved  "the  episcopal  principle";  and  the  Mora- 
vians, who  have  an  episcopate  which  had  its  origin  in 
Presbyterian  ordinations.  So  enamoured  is  this  writer 
of  the  mere  name  of  episcopacy  that  he  would  even 
add  "  the  large  and  flourishing  community  of  the 
Episcopal  Methodists."  While  thus  he  makes  all  turn 
on  the  episcopate,  he  is  aware  of  doubts  as  to  the 
validity  of  the  English  succession,  and  suggests  that 
one  happy  consequence  of  the  policy  he  adumbrates 
would  be  the  rectifying  all  defects,  real  or  imaginary, 
of  Anglican  ordinations  by  the  aid  of  the  undoubtedly 
valid  ministry  of  the  Old  Catholic  bishops  ! 

Take  another  example,  perhaps  even  more  impressive. 
The  bishop  of  Gibraltar  1  says  of  the  Anglican  Com- 

1  Vide  Pan-Anglican  Papers,  No.  6,  u  The  Anglican  Com- 
munion," by  the  Bishop  of  Gibraltar. 

78 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

munion  that  "it  is  the  one  great  ecclesiastical  force 
which  yields  to  facts,"  and  which,  "  though  tenacious 
of  the  past,"  is  "  yet  capable  in  an  unlimited  degree  of 
adapting  itself  to  new  conditions."  None  the  less,  the 
bishop  can  write  a  careful  paper  on  the  Anglican  com- 
munion, in  which  he  finds  space  to  name  with  scrupulous 
deference  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  Greeks,  the  Old 
Catholics,  the  Armenians,  the  Russians,  and  yet  avoids 
all  mention  of  the  non-episcopalian  churches  save  for 
one  disrespectful  allusion  to  "  separated  bodies."  Does 
this  invidious  distinction,  this  eloquent  silence,  argue 
much  "  yielding  to  facts  "  ?  Why  must  the  reformed 
national  Churches  of  Scotland  and  the  Continent,  and 
the  powerful  "  free  Churches  "  of  England  and  America 
be  exiles  from  a  courtesy  which  can  take  thought  for 
the  ecclesiastical  claims  and  prejudices  of  Armenians 
and  Old  Catholics  ?  Have  non-episcopalians  no  feelings 
as  well  as  no  rights  ? 

The  Anglican  communion,  we  are  repeatedly  assured, 
is  "  a  federation  of  national  churches."  1  Of  these  there 
are  said  to  be  no  less  than  nine  or  ten,  each  completely 
organized  on  the  Catholic  model.  The  "  national 
Church,"  however,  is  to  be  understood  in  every  case  as 
consisting  only  of  those  who  are  in  communion  with  the 
Anglican  episcopate.  In  Scotland  and  in  America  these 
form  but  a  fraction  of  the  Christians ;  yet  they  are  to 
be  credited  with  all  the  attributes  of  nationality,  and 
exclusively  reckoned  with.  Is  this  a  procedure  which 
will  minister  to  a  better  feeling  between  the  separated 

1  E.g.,  by  the  Bishop  of  Bombay  in  Pan-Anglican  Papers 
S.F.  3  (p),  and  by  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Puller,  of  the  Society  of  St.  John 
the  Evangelist,  in  Pan- Anglican  Papers  S.F.  III.  (d). 


79 


Westminster  Sermons 


churches  of  Christendom  ?  Can  it  be  justified  at  the 
bar  of  reason,  or  of  charity,  or  even  of  policy  ?  Of  what 
use  is  it  to  speak  of  reunion  to  the  Scot,  proud,  and 
justly  proud,  of  his  national  Church,  when  you  begin 
by  assuming  that  that  national  Church  is  a  misnomer 
and  a  sham  ?  Is  there  not  an  element  of  actual  absurdity 
in  speaking  of  a  "  great  national  Church,  such  as  the 
Church  of  the  United  States,"1  when  all  you  have  in 
your  mind  is  a  small  denomination,  which  is  hardly 
known  by  name  to  great  multitudes  of  American 
Christians  ?  Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that 
this  notion  of  "  national  Churches  "  is  quite  novel  in 
the  experience  of  the  Church  of  England.  To  this  day 
the  Bidding  Prayer,  as  it  stands  in  the  canons  of  1604, 
includes  a  petition  for  the  Church  of  Scotland,  which 
then,  as  now,  was  presbyterian  in  polity.  Every  student 
of  the  Reformation  knows  that  the  Church  of  England 
recognized  to  the  full  the  national  character  of  the  other 
reformed  churches.  At  the  Synod  of  Dort,  in  1618, 
the  representatives  of  the  Church  of  England  sate  along 
with  the  representatives  of  other  reformed  churches, 
and  did  not  think  that  the  "  imparity  of  ministers," 
which  marked  their  church,  involved  any  breach  of 
fellowship.  The  attribution  to  a  small  denomination 
of  that  national  character  which  manifestly  must  belong 
to  the  whole  multitude  of  Christian  folk,  is  not  less 
absurd  than  hurtful. 

It  would  not  be  right  for  me,  of  course,  to  ignore  the 
wiser  and  more  charitable  language  of  some,  though, 
alas  !  but  very  few,  of  the  writers  of  these  "  Pan-Anglican 

1  The  phrase  is  Mr.  Puller's,  vide  Pan- Anglican  Papers  S.F. 
III.  (d). 

80 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

Papers."  Thus  the  Dean  of  Westminster — if  I  under- 
stand his  words  1 — separates  himself  decisively  from 
the  extreme  episcopalianism,  of  which  I  have  given 
you  some  examples.  "  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
any  serious  effort  towards  the  reinforcement  of  the 
Anglican  communion  from  the  numbers  of  those  who 
naturally  should  belong  to  it  must  not  take  the  form  of 
proselytism  of  individuals,  but  must  primarily  be  con- 
cerned with  those  communities  which  stand  nearest  to 
it  in  point  of  doctrine,  and  which,  apart  from  questions 
of  ecclesiastical  order,  hold  a  position  scarcely  distinguish- 
able from  that  of  the  evangelical  school  of  churchmen." 
And  Canon  Robinson,2  whom  large  knowledge  of 
missionary  questions  renders  a  particularly  weighty 
witness,  testifies  to  the  practical  folly  of  multiplying 
bishoprics  at  great  cost  when  evangelistic  work  is 
actually  being  abandoned  for  lack  of  funds.  He  justly 
protests  against  the  proposal  to  establish  a  new  bishopric 
in  Manchuria,  where  "  there  is  at  present  no  missionary 
work  in  connection  with  the  Anglican  Church,  though 
extensive  and  encouraging  work  is  being  carried  on  at 
many  different  centres  throughout  the  province  by  the 
Scotch  Presbyterians,  the  Irish  Presbyterians,  and  by 
a  Danish  mission."  The  principal  of  Holy  Trinity 
Divinity  College  at  Osaka  pleads  boldly  for  "  a  frank 
recognition  of  the  position  of  the  free  churches,"3 
and   argues   with  great  force  from   their  admitted 

1  Vide  Pan- Anglican  Papers  S.F.  I.  (a.). 

a  Vide  Pan-Anglican  Papers  S.D.  4  (n),  by  Canon  Robinson, 
editor  of  "  East  and  West." 

3  Vide  Pan-Anglican  Papers  S.F.  II.  (a),  by  the  Rev.  G. 
Chapman,  C.M.S.  Missionary,  Principal  ot  Holy  Trinity  Divinity 
College,  Osaka. 

8l  F 


Westminster  Sermons 


spiritual  success  to  their  adequate  divine  authoriza- 
tion. These  writers,  however,  are  exceptional :  the 
general  tenour  of  the  "  Pan-Anglican  Papers  "  is  in  the 
narrowest  sense  of  the  word  episcopalian. 

I  plead  for  a  return  to  the  older  attitude  of  English 
churchmen,  an  attitude,  which  the  learning  of  our 
time  and  the  experience  of  centuries  has  justified.  I 
plead  that  the  specific  form  of  Church  organization 
shall  again,  as  in  the  days  of  the  apostles  and  in  the 
early  Church,  vary  with  local  conditions,  and  yet  that 
the  fraternity  of  all  Christians  shall  not  be  impaired. 
I  plead  for  the  frank  recognition  of  those  non-episco- 
palian churches  which  can  agree  with  us  in  the 
essentials  of  faith  and  morality,  and  in  the  reverent 
use  of  the  dominical  sacraments.  I  plead  for  a 
humbler  and  more  charitable  Anglicanism,  which  will 
consent  to  learn,  as  well  as  aspire  to  teach,  and  can  set 
the  cause  of  Christ  above  the  proud  claims  of  the 
episcopate.  "We  preach  not  ourselves;  but  Christ 
Jesus  as  Lord>  and  ourselves  as  your  servants  for  Jesus' 
sake" — that  was  the  formula  of  apostolic  ministry;  it  is 
ill  reflected  in  that  waxing  insistence  on  hierarchical 
claims,  which  is  becoming  the  note  of  modern 
Anglicanism  ;  nevertheless,  it  enshrines  the  very 
principle  of  faithful  churchmanship.  The  world  is 
weary  of  divine  rights,  disillusioned  with  the  churches, 
bewildered  and  offended  by  their  conflicts.  Yet,  never 
before  did  the  human  spirit  confess  more  clearly  its 
desire  for  Christ.  Here  at  home,  where  society  staggers 
beneath  the  accumulating  weight  of  ancient  wrongs  and 
modern  problems  ;  abroad,  in  the  wide  reaches  of  empire 
where  life  is  empty  of  hallowed  memories,  and  the 

82 


Anglicanism  and  Reunion 

fierce  urgency  of  the  material  is  unchastened  and  un- 
shamed  by  the  symbols  of  the  spiritual ;  in  the  vast 
populations  of  Asia  and  Africa,  where  the  familiar  pilot 
stars  of  ancestral  religion  are  fading  from  the  sky,  and 
no  fresh  illuminations  come  from  the  accustomed 
shrines,  the  necessity  of  Christ,  and  the  demand, 
unconscious  but  increasingly  urgent,  for  His  Lord- 
ship are  the  burden  of  human  prayer.  Men  everywhere 
are  asking  for  the  bread  of  life.  We  thrust  before 
them  the  miserable  spectacle  of  our  ecclesiastical 
claims.  In  all  this,  we  Anglicans  seem  to  bear  the 
heaviest  burden  of  responsibility,  for  the  very  principle 
of  division,  which  hinders  the  union  of  the  churches, 
and  diverts  men's  minds  from  the  essentials  of  faith 
and  life,  is  our  exclusiveness. 

If,  indeed,  we  have  persuaded  ourselves  that  the 
episcopal  government  is  essential,  and  that  all  non- 
episcopal  ministries,  in  spite  of  the  spiritual  success 
with  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  blessed,  and  is 
blessing,  their  labours,  are  invalid,  then,  I  admit  that 
there  is  no  help  for  it ;  we  must  go  on  in  this  lamentable 
isolation,  traverse  the  old  futile  cycle,  and  refuse  fellow- 
ship with  all  the  reformed  churches.  Only,  in  that 
case,  let  us  cease  to  insult  our  brethren  with  proposals 
of  reunion ;  let  us  spare  the  world  that  gratuitous 
hypocrisy. 

If,  however,  the  case  be  otherwise,  and  our  informed 
and  deliberate  judgment  accords  with  the  irrepressible 
instincts  of  our  hearts  in  repudiating  this  cruel  and 
monstrous  notion  that  non-episcopal  churches  are,  for 
that  reason,  outside  the  covenant  of  the  gospel,  then, 
in  the  name  of  all  things  honest  and  charitable,  let  us 

83  f  2 


Westminster  Sermons 

confess  our  convictions,  let  us  press  them  on  the  bishops, 
let  us  insist  on  clearing  out  of  the  way  that  ancient  and 
fatal  barrier  to  Christian  fellowship.  Then  truly  a  new 
element  of  hope  would  enter  into  our  aspirations,  and 
the  mystic  ties  of  spiritual  fraternity  might  be  able  to 
assert  themselves  in  all  the  churches,  which  own  in 
sincerity  the  Lordship  of  Christ. 

"  No  distance  breaks  the  tie  of  blood, 
Brothers  are  brothers  evermore, 
Nor  wrong,  nor  wrath  of  deadliest  mood 
That  magic  may  o'erpower ; 
Oft  ere  the  common  source  be  known, 
The  kindred  drops  will  claim  their  own, 
And  throbbing  pulses  silently 
Move  heart  towards  heart  by  sympathy. 

"  So  is  it  with  true  Christian  hearts, 
Their  mutual  share  in  Jesus'  blood 
An  everlasting  bond  imparts 
Of  holiest  brotherhood  ; 
Oh  !  might  we  all  our  lineage  prove, 
Give  and  forgive,  do  good  and  love, 
By  soft  endearments  in  kind  strife, 
Lightening  the  load  of  daily  life  !  " 


84 


VI 


THE  ORIGINAL  GOSPEL1 

BUT  THERE  WERE  SOME  OF  THEM,  MEN  OF  CYPRUS  AND  CYRENE, 
WHO,  WHEN  THEY  WERE  COME  TO  ANTIOCH,  SPAKE  UNTO  THE 
GREEKS  ALSO,  PREACHING  THE  LORD  JESUS. — ACTS  xi.  20. 

The  consequences  of  human  action  have  little  or  no 
relation  to  the  intentions  and  desires  of  the  actors. 
This  is  one  of  the  truisms  of  history,  which  may  well 
chasten  the  arrogance  of  ambition  and  restrain  the 
ardour  of  zeal.  Nowhere  indeed  has  it  been  more 
constantly  and  conspicuously  illustrated  than  in  the 
sphere  of  ecclesiastical  history.  Very  early  in  the 
experience  of  Christians  the  famous  aphorism  was 
coined,  which  sums  up  with  eloquent  brevity  a  whole 
cycle  of  human  delusion  and  disappointment,  "  The 
blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church." 
Persecutors  have  generally  missed  their  aim,  because 
their  violence  provokes  reactions  in  unexpected 
quarters,  and  stirs  latent  but  unknown  powers  into 
activity.  Nay,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  in  so  far 
as  the  persecutor's  object  has  been  the  advancement  of 
true  religion,  and  not  merely  the  suppression  of  false 
religion,  it  has  invariably  failed.     Persecution  may 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  the  3rd  Sunday 
after  Trinity,  July  5,  1908,  being  the  day  on  which  the  Bishops 
assembled  for  the  fifth  Lambeth  Conference  received  the  Holy 
Communion  in  Westminster  Abbey. 


85 


Westminster  Sermons 


succeed,  and  I  incline  to  think,  often  does  succeed,  in 
the  task  of  suppression,  but  at  that  point  its  success  is 
arrested.  Yet  the  suppression  of  error  is  a  small, 
perhaps  even  an  insignificant,  part  of  its  consequences. 
Persecution  works  such  mischief  in  its  own  agents, 
such  waste  of  the  finer  elements  of  human  character, 
such  destruction,  therefore,  of  the  raw  materials  of 
religion,  that  the  enfeeblement  and  lethargy  which 
it  induces  more  than  outweigh  all  the  advantages 
gained  by  the  extinction  of  error.  "  Let  both  grow 
together  until  the  harvest "  was  the  divine  house- 
holder's command  to  those  impatient  servants  who 
would  promptly  and  violently  extirpate  the  tares  on 
their  first  appearance  in  the  wheat  field ;  and  the  words 
have  application  to  error  as  well  as  to  erroneous  persons. 
In  the  interest  of  the  wheat  you  had  best  leave  the 
tares  alone,  "  lest  haply  while  ye  gather  up  the  tares, 
ye  root  up  the  wheat  with  them."  In  the  interest  of 
truth  you  had  best  be  patient  with  error. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  Christian  history  we  find 
the  Church  gaining  greatly  from  persecution.  The 
first  result  of  "  the  tribulation  that  arose  about 
Stephen  "  was  a  crisis  which  threatened  to  destroy 
the  infant  Church  at  a  stroke.  The  society  at  Jerusalem 
was  dispersed :  the  apostles,  indeed,  stood  to  their 
posts,  but  the  most  probable  consequence  of  their 
heroism  seemed  to  be  their  own  early  martyrdom. 
S.  Luke,  reviewing  the  crisis  at  a  later  period,  is  able  to 
discern  the  actual  course  of  events,  and  to  point  out 
the  effect  of  the  first  persecution.  It  compelled 
Christians  to  understand  their  duty,  and  to  interpret 
their  gospel.    On  the  one  hand,  the  Church  was  forced 

86 


The  Original  Gospel 

to  engage  in  missionary  labours ;  on  the  other  hand, 
Christianity  was  forced  to  become  catholic. 

At  first  there  was  considerable  danger  that  the 
disciples  in  Jerusalem  should  settle  down  to  the  decent 
and  comparatively  secure  position  of  an  estimable  and 
pious  sect.  They  were  popular,  and  they  deserved  to  be 
popular.  "  The  people  magnified  them."  Indeed,  the 
popular  feeling  on  their  behalf  was  so  plainly  manifested 
that  the  persecuting  section  of  the  national  hierarchy 
was  almost  awed  into  acquiescing  in  their  existence. 
Their  cardinal  and  distinguishing  beliefs — that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  Messiah,  and  that  He  had  risen  from  the 
dead,  and  was  soon  to  return  in  triumph  to  "  give  the 
kingdom  to  Israel" — were  not  in  themselves  unpalatable 
to  Pharisaic  ears,  and  at  worst  could  be  tolerated  as 
harmless  fantasies,  so  long  as  those  who  held  them 
were  scrupulous  adherents  of  the  Jewish  ritual  law, 
and  conspicuous  among  religious  people  mainly  by 
their  unequalled  benevolence.  There  was  no  slight 
risk  that  the  Christian  Church  should  insensibly  accept 
the  pleasant  obscurity  of  a  reformed  sect  of  the  reigning 
religion.  Then  came  the  sharp  and  sudden  blow  of 
persecution.  Fanaticism  ever  disdains  considerations 
of  prudence  and  policy.  The  zeal  of  Saul  of  Tarsus 
was  as  disinterested  as  it  was  ruthless,  and  it  would  not 
tolerate  the  existence  of  doctrines  which,  if  true,  con- 
victed Judaism  of  criminal  apostasy.  Thus  the  Church 
was  driven  in  spite  of  itself  to  be  honest,  to  claim  the 
independence  which  was  its  due,  to  repudiate  the  servi- 
tude of  ignoble  toleration,  and  to  embrace  the  glorious 
risks  of  open  and  universal  propagandism.  Mission- 
aries were  coined  out  of  exiles;  motives  were  discovered 

87 


Westminster  Sermons 


in  necessities ;  the  violence  of  the  Jews  poured  out 
upon  the  world  a  whole  army  of  Christian  preachers. 
Nor  was  even  this  all. 

A  catholic  propaganda  implies  a  catholic  gospel. 
The  zealots  of  Jewish  particularism  become  the  foster- 
parents  of  Christian  universalism.  The  creed  must  be 
worthy  of  the  Church.  Inevitably,  therefore,  the  exiles 
who  by  force  of  circumstances  had  become  missionaries 
were  the  first  to  solve  the  problem  which  so  gravely 
perplexed  the  mother  Church.  They  forced  the  hand 
of  the  apostles  by  boldly  offering  their  message  to  all 
who  would  listen  to  it.  "  But  there  were  some  of  them, 
men  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene,  who  when  they  came  to 
Antioch,  spake  unto  the  Greeks  also,  preaching  the 
Lord  Jesus." 

So  long  as  the  Church  was  pent  up  in  a  sacred  city, 
tied  fast  to  the  local  traditions,  forced  to  think  and  act 
in  ancestral  grooves,  it  could  never  rise  to  the  height  of 
its  divine  mission.  It  must  move  out,  be  thrust  out 
violently  —  since  nothing  short  of  positive  violence 
would  avail  to  break  through  the  manifold  and  subtle 
links  which  held  it  fast  to  the  ancient  and  venerated 
birthplace  —  into  the  great  modern  world,  be  swept 
along  by  the  fierce  tides  of  popular  life,  be  caught  into 
the  mingled  mass  of  its  conflicting  interests,  and  so 
through  stress  and  strife  find  its  true  measure,  and 
discern  its  proper  task.  The  first  of  the  memorable 
crises  of  Christian  history,  and,  perhaps,  the  most 
important,  was  that  which  coincided  with  the  trans- 
ference of  the  centre  of  ecclesiastical  life  from  the  old 
sacred  capital,  Jerusalem,  to  the  great  modern  capital, 
Antioch.    The  difficulties  which  seemed  almost  insur- 


88 


The  Original  Gospel 

mountable  on  the  slopes  of  Zion,  and  in  the  porches  of 
the  temple,  seemed  too  trivial  for  consideration  in  the 
broad  thoroughfares  of  the  Syrian  metropolis,  in 
presence  of  its  vast  and  various  population.  We  hear 
nothing  of  any  hesitation  or  debate  on  the  part  of  the 
arriving  refugees  from  Jerusalem.  Their  course  was 
plainly  marked  out  for  them  ;  it  came  in  the  natural 
order  of  events  that  they  should  do  what  they  did. 
"  When  they  were  come  to  Antioch,  they  spake 
unto  the  Greeks  also,  preaching  the  Lord  Jesus."  It 
is,  perhaps,  not  a  little  remarkable  that  on  the  very 
threshold  of  Christian  history,  in  the  first  great  religious 
crisis,  the  decision  was  reached,  not  by  the  supreme 
ecclesiastical  authorities,  but  by  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  Church  ;  not  in  the  mother  Church  but  in  the 
missionary  field. 

The  original  form  of  the  catholic  gospel  is  summed 
up  in  the  suggestive  and  arresting  phrase,  "  preaching 
the  Lord  Jesus."  To  the  Jews  the  proclamation  of  the 
Messiah  fitted  itself  on  to  the  elaborate  and  ancient 
system,  to  which,  indeed,  it  provided  the  true  sym- 
metrical climax  and  completion.  Christ  was  to  the 
converted  Jews  less  a  person  than  a  providential  fact : 
discipleship  to  the  Master  was  merged  in  membership 
of  the  society.  The  national  covenant  still  filled  their 
thought ;  the  notion  of  self-surrender  in  personal 
discipleship  showed  faintly  on  the  horizon  of  Jewish 
Christianity.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  gospel  had  to 
be  proclaimed  to  the  Greeks,  all  this  was  changed.  It 
fitted  on  to  nothing  patriotic  in  their  minds ;  it  con- 
firmed and  completed  no  sacred  system  ;  it  illuminated 
no  venerated  scriptures.    They  were  not  distracted  by 

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preconceptions  slowly  built  into  the  fabric  of  their 
thinking  by  centuries  of  national  experience ;  such 
preconceptions  as  they  possessed  were  either  plainly 
erroneous,  and,  as  such,  renounced  as  a  matter  of 
course  when  they  accepted  the  new  message,  or  quite 
general  preconceptions  learned  from  the  philosophers 
or  implicit  in  their  ancestral  religions,  and  easily  con- 
gruous with  that  religion  which  is  the  sum  of  all  truth. 
These  preconceptions  were  either  too  vague  to  influence, 
or  too  fundamentally  true  to  disturb  their  minds,  when 
they  were  confronted  with  the  gospel  of  Christ.  How 
then  should  this  new  Jewish  religion  present  itself  to 
the  Greeks  ?  Through  what  door  should  it  enter  their 
hearts  ?  How  would  it  appeal  to  them  ?  To  such 
questions  the  answer  must  be  found  in  the  single  fact 
which  the  text  emphasizes — the  spiritual  power  of  the 
Lord  Himself.  The  most  successful  of  all  the  Christian 
missionaries  who  preached  the  gospel  to  the  Greeks 
formed  his  evangelistic  method  in  the  school  of  experi- 
ence, and  expressed  it  thus  :  "  I  determined  not  to 
know  anything  save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified." 

The  missionaries,  of  course,  built  on  the  foundation 
of  the  universal  belief  in  God.  They  started  with  the 
assumptions  of  theism,  and,  on  those  assumptions, 
they  offered  to  their  hearers  the  living  Christ  as  the 
true  exponent  of  God,  and  the  true  representative  of 
man.  This  intensely  personal  character  of  their 
preaching  often  comes  into  view  in  the  narrative 
of  the  Acts.  "The  disciples,"  we  are  told,  "were 
called  Christians  first  in  Antioch."  The  glib-tongued, 
quick-witted  Antiochenes — the  Parisians  of  the  ancient 
world,   as   someone    has   called   them    not  inaptly 


90 


The  Original  Gospel 

— were  not  slow  to  coin  a  suitable  nick-name  for 
the  preachers  and  their  followers ;  and  they  naturally 
laid  hold  of  the  most  prominent  feature  in  their 
preaching.  These  Jews  were  for  ever  speaking  of 
Christ,  praising  Christ,  offering  Christ.  Therefore 
they  should  best  be  distinguished  by  His  Name.  They 
were  Christ's  folk,  Christians.  In  its  original  intention, 
probably,  the  famous  name  was  contemptuous,  but  it 
was  welcomed  by  those  to  whom  it  was  given.  They 
boasted  of  it :  delighted  in  it :  read  new  meanings  into 
it :  passed  it  on  to  be  the  most  illustrious  name  of 
human  history.  "  If  a  man  suffer  as  a  Christian,"  writes 
S.  Peter,  "  let  him  not  be  ashamed  :  but  let  him  glorify 
God  in  this  name." 

The  person  of  Christ  is  that  element  of  Christianity 
which  is  neither  temporal,  nor  local,  nor  transitory : 
and  other  elements  only  come  to  have  a  certain  per- 
manence as  they  are  able  to  vindicate  a  relationship 
with  that.  Ecclesiastical  systems,  dogmatic  systems, 
are  growths,  conditioned  in  their  growing  by  the 
circumstances,  external  and  internal,  which  condition 
all  terrestrial  development.  They  have  a  relative  worth, 
a  relative  authority,  a  relative  truth  ;  but  they  fail  and 
pass  as  the  conditions  of  existence  change,  and  they 
who  stake  their  faith  on  them,  and  twine  about  them  the 
deep  loyalties  of  their  hearts,  are  predestined  to  infinite 
disappointment.  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away," 
said  our  Lord,  and  He  added  that  His  words  should 
not  pass  away.  The  long  story  of  Christianity  confirms 
and  interprets  His  speech.  Everything  has  changed; 
men's  notion  of  social  order  has  changed,  and  their 
habits  of  living,  and  their  modes  of  thought,  and  their 

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standards  of  conduct,  and  their  ideals,  and  their  codes 
of  honour,  and  their  systems  of  belief,  and  their 
organizations  of  worship  and  discipline  :  we  live  in  a 
world  of  extinct  beliefs  and  perishing  traditions  ;  we 
are  girdled  with  the  wreckage  of  the  centuries.  Here 
alone  is  the  unchanging  fact  which  gives  coherence  and 
continuity  to  the  dissolving  scene  ;  here  is  the  rock,  on 
which  our  feet  may  find  firm  treading ;  here  is  the 
unity  which  gathers  into  itself  all  the  ages,  and  vindi- 
cates even  for  the  remotest  past  fellowship  with  the 
most  distant  future.  "  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yester- 
day, and  to-day,  yea,  and  for  ever."  Here  is  the 
principle  of  the  Church's  continuous  life.  He,  the 
unchanging,  is  in  her.  She  moves  under  ever-changing 
fortunes  along  the  path  of  her  eternal  mission  under  the 
aegis  of  His  presence.  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  age."  Here  is  the  spring  of 
her  unfailing  hope.  In  dark  hours  of  seeming  defeat,  in 
the  shade  of  bitter  injustice,  under  the  burden  of  cruel 
oppression,  here  is  the  hidden  source  of  her  courage ; 
here  is  the  fountain  of  her  indestructible  energy  :  "  There 
is  a  river,  the  streams  whereof  make  glad  the  city  of 
God,  the  holy  place  of  the  tabernacles  of  the  Most 
High.  God  is  in  the  midst  of  her :  she  shall  not  be 
moved  :  God  shall  help  her,  and  that  right  early.  The 
nations  raged,  the  kingdoms  were  moved  :  He  uttered 
His  voice,  the  earth  melted.  The  Lord  of  Hosts  is 
with  us  :  the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge." 

These  reflections  cannot  be  unsuitable  to-day,  when 
the  bishops  of  the  Anglican  communion  gathered  from 
far  and  near  are  inaugurating  their  fifth  decennial 
conference  by  a  solemn  service  in  our  great  Abbey. 


The  Original  Gospel 

It  is,  of  course,  the  case,  and  I  apprehend  that  we  must 
not  allow  ourselves  to  forget  it,  that  the  250  bishops 
represent  but  a  small  part  of  the  English  Church,  and 
a  far  smaller  part  of  the  Church  Catholic.  Neverthe- 
less, there  are  reasons  why  an  importance  attaches  to 
the  action  of  the  forthcoming  conference,  which  is  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  numbers  of  Christians  who  are, 
in  some  sense,  represented  in  it.     The  Church  of 
England  is  the  mother  church  of  English  Christians, 
whatever  their  denominational  description  may  be ; 
and,  whatever  may  have  been  her  faults  in  the  past, 
or  her  failures  in  the  present,  nothing  can  take  from 
her  the  historic  splendour  of  that  fact.    There  is  a 
natural  fitness  in  her  leadership  which  commends  it  to 
the  acceptance  of  the  other  English-speaking  churches, 
and  adds  a  special  significance  to  the  proposals  which 
she  addresses  to  them.     With  the  advantages  of  this 
natural  primacy  go  also  the  dangers.    The  mother 
church  of  English  Christianity  is  tempted  to  rest  in 
the  memories  of  her  illustrious  past,  to  exalt  unduly  the 
time-honoured  traditions  which  she  has  received,  to 
close  her  ears  to  the  latest  voices  of  divine  direction, 
and  to  shut  her  eyes  to  the  new  revelations  of  God  in 
human  life.    I  do  not  think  it  possible  for  any  con- 
sidering churchman  to  miss  the  waxing  insistence  on 
organization,  the  magnifying  of  externals,  the  strengthen- 
ing emphasis  of  non-essentials,  which  mark  current 
Anglicanism.     Read   the   ecclesiastical  newspapers, 
and  mark  the  exultation   with   which   the  rapidly- 
increasing  number  of  bishops  is  described,  and  the 
demand   openly   urged   that   this  conference  should 
retake  those  powers  of  spiritual  legislation  which  the 

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synods  of  antiquity  possessed.  For  my  part,  I  find 
little  comfort  in  the  statistics  of  an  extending  organiza- 
tion, for  it  is  not  by  the  scale  of  its  hierarchy  that  the 
spiritual  efficiency  of  any  church  may  be  measured. 
Nor,  as  I  am  able  to  perceive  the  truth,  is  popularity  a 
sign  of  spiritual  health.  On  the  contrary,  churches 
sink  in  order  to  become  popular,  lowering  their  theo- 
logical standard  to  the  level  of  the  general  superstition, 
and  bending  their  moral  code  to  the  service  of  prevailing 
political  demands. 

The  mediaeval  Church  of  England  on  the  eve  of 
the  Reformation  was  a  popular  church.  All  over  the 
country  evidence  exists  to  show  the  strength  of  the 
position  which  that  church  held  in  the  affections  of  the 
people.  Church  building  was  proceeding,  organizations 
were  multiplying  up  to  the  last.  This  fabric,  in  which 
we  are  worshipping,  is  an  evidence  of  this.  It  was 
built  by  the  parishioners  at  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  was  consecrated  as  late  as  the  year 
1523,  only  six  3'ears  before  the  Long  Parliament  of  the 
Reformation  began  its  memorable  career.  Why  did 
that  powerful,  wealthy,  popular  Church  of  mediaeval 
England  fall  with  such  dramatic  suddenness  ?  Was  it 
not  because  it  failed  to  read  "  the  signs  of  the  times," 
refused  to  recognize  the  leading  of  God  in  the  present, 
shut  its  eyes  to  the  new  knowledge  of  the  time,  refused 
to  learn  and  to  unlearn  anything  ?  That  spurious 
loyalty  of  an  unreasoning  and  unimaginative  con- 
servatism is  the  bane  of  old  institutions,  most  of  all  of 
old  churches.  The  hardest  of  all  achievements  is  the 
surrender  of  an  untenable  claim.  The  Papacy  was 
called  upon  to  make  that  surrender  in  the  sixteenth 

94 


The  Original  Gospel 

century,  and  it  failed  to  respond.  It  preferred  to 
follow  the  easier  line  of  self-assertion,  and  went  forward 
with  the  enthusiastic  applause  of  its  devoted  adherents 
to  a  failure,  the  full  measure  of  which  is  only  beginning 
to  be  visible.  If  I  mistake  not,  the  Anglican  Church  is 
called  upon  now  to  made  a  similar  surrender,  to  lower 
its  denominational  claim,  to  enlarge  its  charity,  to  abate 
its  pride,  to  "lose  its  life  that  it  may  gain  it."  Our 
prayer  for  these  bishops  at  Lambeth  will  be  the  prayer 
that  they  may  be  given  grace  ot  denominational  self- 
suppression,  that  is,  the  power  of  a  true  spiritual 
perspective,  the  insight  which  distinguishes  between  the 
essentials  and  the  non-essentials  of  religion,  which 
recognizes  the  truth  even  in  novel  and  unwelcome 
forms,  and  rises  to  obey  the  truth  it  sees.  For  the 
preservation  of  religion  at  home,  for  the  bringing  to 
non-Christians  abroad  the  life-giving  message  of  the 
gospel,  we  need  the  united  efforts  of  all  true  Christians. 
Nothing  less  can  suffice  for  so  great  a  task  as  we  are 
called  to.  And  how  can  that  working  harmony  of 
Christians  be  attained  without  great  surrenders  of 
preference,  of  prejudice,  of  interest,  of  everything  which 
is  not  vital  ?  Only  when  we  have  raised  again  into  its 
true  central  prominence  that  first  and  final  creed  of  the 
Church,  which  underlies  all  Christian  beliefs,  and  is 
the  postulate  of  every  discipleship,  "  Jesus  is  Lord," 
can  we  draw  the  separated  followers  of  Christ  together. 

And  where  shall  we  better  learn  that  creed  than  here 
in  the  great  sacrament,  wherein  the  Lord  draws  nigh 
to  His  own  ?  Here,  at  least,  where  we  plead  before  the 
throne  of  God  the  eternal  sacrifice  once  for  all  made 
upon  the  cross,  He  must  fill  our  vision. 


95 


Westminster  Sermons 


"  For  all  Thy  Church,  O  Lord,  we  intercede; 
Make  Thou  our  sad  divisions  soon  to  cease ; 
Draw  us  the  nearer  each  to  each,  we  plead, 

By  drawing  all  to  Thee,  O  Prince  of  Peace  ; 
Thus  may  we  all  one  Bread,  one  Body  be, 
By  this  blest  Sacrament  of  Unity." 

Yes,  in  His  presence  all  that  divides  must  recede,  all 
that  unites  must  advance.  Self  must  fall  back,  conceal 
itself,  wholly  pass.    Christ  alone  must  fill  our  hearts. 

For  the  secret  conflicts  of  our  own  souls,  for  the 
great  passion  of  the  Church  militant  throughout  the 
world,  for  the  special  trial  of  the  Church  of  England, 
for  the  blessed  dead,  who  sleep  in  Christ,  we  lift  our 
voice  in  prayer  to-day  : 

"  O  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world,  grant 
us  Thy  peace." 


96 


VII 


S.  CYPRIAN1 

AND  JOHN  ANSWERED  AND  SAID,  MASTER,  WE  SAW  ONE  CASTING 
OUT  DEVILS  IN  THY  NAME  J  AND  WE  FORBADE  HIM,  BECAUSE  HE 
FOLLOWETH  NOT  WITH  US.  BUT  JESUS  SAID  UNTO  HIM,  FORBID 
HIM  NOT  :    FOR  HE  THAT  IS  NOT  AGAINST  YOU   IS  FOR  YOU. 

s.  luke  ix.  4Q,  50. 

BY  THIS  SHALL  ALL  MEN  KNOW  THAT  YE  ARE  MY  DISCIPLES,  IF 
YE  HAVE  LOVE  ONE  TO  ANOTHER. — S.  JOHN  xiii.  35. 

i.  When  the  Puritans  at  the  Savoy  Conference 
requested  that  the  "  black  letter "  saints  should  be 
removed  from  the  calendar,  the  bishops  replied  that 
they  were  placed  there  not  for  formal  commemoration, 
but  for  the  preservation  of  their  memories,  and  for  the 
convenience  of  the  public,  since  they  were  much  used 
for  fixing  leases,  law  days,  etc.  This  rather  odd  mixture 
of  sentiment  and  common  sense  may  explain  the  selec- 
tion of  the  names,  which  could  hardly  be  justified  on 
any  coherent  or  religious  theory.  The  list  includes  the 
greater  Latin  fathers,  but  omits  the  Greeks  altogether. 
Patriotic  motives  might  authorise  the  retention  of  the 
national  saints,  and  historical  considerations  might 
suffice  to  defend  the  inclusion  of  some  others ;  but 
nearly  half  the  names  can  offer  neither  of  these  pleas. 
They  could  only  have  been  justified  by  the  public 

1  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  the  16th  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  September  26,  1909  (S.  Cyprian's  Day). 


97 


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convenience,  which  is  no  longer  concerned  with  them. 
At  present  their  interest  is  purely  antiquarian.  The 
26th  of  September  is  marked  in  the  calendar  with  the 
name  of  S.  Cyprian,  archbishop  and  martyr.  The 
date  of  this  saint's  martyrdom  was  September  14,  but 
he  seems  to  have  been  confused  with  another  Cyprian, 
who  is  commemorated  in  the  Roman  calendar  on 
September  26.1  Few  saints  have  greater  claim  to  be 
remembered  than  he,  whether  his  personal  character, 
or  his  public  achievements,  or  his  posthumous  influence, 
be  considered.  In  all  these  respects  S.  Cyprian  must 
be  reckoned  one  of  the  most  eminent  Christians  that 
have  ever  lived. 

2.  It  would  not,  perhaps,  be  excessive  to  say  that 
of  all  the  ancient  Fathers  only  S.  Chrysostom  has 
enjoyed  such  wide  popularity  among  English  church- 
men. The  reasons  for  popularity  in  the  case  of  these 
two  saints  have  indeed  been  widely  different.  The 
"  golden-mouth  "  preacher  of  Antioch  has  appealed  to 
our  veneration  for  the  Scriptures,  our  admiration  of 
preaching,  our  special  fondness  for  practical  homiletics. 
None  of  the  ancients  is  so  interesting,  or  so  evangelical, 
or  so  relevant  to  modern  needs.  S.  Chrysostom  has 
a  truly  Pauline  insight  into  human  nature,  and  his 
homilies  are  not  unworthy  a  place  alongside  of  the 
epistles  to  the  Corinthians. 

S.  Cyprian  owes  his  vogue  mainly  to  the  doctrine 
which  he  taught,  and  the  controversies  in  which  he 
was  engaged.  He  formulated  the  "  sacerdotal "  con- 
ception of  the  ministry,  and  stood  forth  as  the  champion 

1  Vide  Archbishop  Benson's  "  Cyprian,"  p.  610  f.  "  S.  Cyprian's 
Day  in  Kalendars." 

98 


S.  Cyprian 

of  the  episcopate  against  the  Papacy.  In  the  history 
of  religious  controversy  his  writings  have  played  a  great 
part.  Probably  hardly  any  primitive  documents  have 
been  more  often  quoted  ;  none  have  been  more  drastic- 
ally treated.  The  interpolations  of  the  text  of  Cyprian 
by  the  Roman  controversialists  might  almost  be  called 
the  classical  illustration  of  polemical  immorality.  It 
would  be  easy  to  accumulate  testimonies  to  the  critical 
importance  of  the  career  of  this  saint.  Archbishop 
Benson,  who  devoted  the  scanty  leisure  of  his  arduous 
life  to  a  learned  study  of  S.  Cyprian,  which  insensibly 
passed  from  a  critical  review  into  a  whole-hearted 
eulogy,  asserts  that  in  the  sphere  of  ecclesiastical 
organization  "  the  magnitude  of  the  effect  he  produced 
is  incomparably  greater  than  that  of  any  other  person, 
not  excepting  Hildebrand."  1  Bishop  Lightfoot  said 
that  "Cyprian  crowned  the  edifice  of  episcopal  power," 
and  was  "  the  first  to  put  forward  without  relief  or 
disguise  sacerdotal  assumptions,"  which  before  his 
time  had  been  either  unknown  or  unexpressed  ;  that 
"  so  uncompromising  was  the  tone  in  which  he  asserted 
them,  that  nothing  was  left  to  his  successors  but  to 
enforce  his  principles  and  reiterate  his  language." 2 
Another  eminent  Anglican  authority,  the  late  Professor 
Bigg,  inclines  to  dissent  from  the  view  that  Cyprian 
originated  his  sacerdotal  doctrine,  and  maintains  that 
"  what  is  characteristic  of  Cyprian  is  merely  the  zeal 
with  which  he  spurs  his  theory."  3  Bishop  Gore  takes 
the  same  ground.    Cyprian,  he  says,  "  did  not  in  fact 

1  Vide  "  Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography,"  art.  "  Cyprian." 

3  Vide  "  Philippians,"  pp.  258 — g. 

3  Vide  "The  Origins  of  Christianity,"  p.  364. 


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Westminster  Sermons 


create  or  innovate,  but  he  gave  emphatic  expression  to 
an  existing  church  principle  in  view  of  the  particular 
circumstances  of  his  episcopate."  1  "  He  stands  out  in 
church  history  as  the  typical  bishop,  and  with  his 
weighty  sentences  he  impressed  on  the  episcopal  theory 
an  abiding  form."2  Non-Anglicans  have  been  not  less 
emphatic,  if  naturally  less  appreciative.  Cyprian, 
according  to  Harnack,  "  transformed  the  idea  of  the 
Church";3  "exalted  the  unity  of  the  organization  of 
the  Church  above  the  unity  of  the  doctrine  of  faith  "  ;  * 
"  was  the  first  to  proclaim  the  identity  of  heretics  and 
schismatics,  by  making  a  man's  Christianity  depend  on 
his  belonging  to  the  great  episcopal  church  confedera- 
tion "  ; 5  taught  "  a  new  conception  of  the  Church 
which  was  a  necessary  outcome  of  existing  circum- 
stances and  which  was  the  first  thing  that  gave  a 
fundamental  religious  significance  to  the  separation  of 
clergy  and  laity."  6  Principal  Lindsay  emphasizes  the 
influence  of  Cyprian's  legal  training  on  his  doctrine  of 
"  apostolic  succession."  "  Apostolic  succession,"  he 
says,  "  in  the  dogmatic  sense  of  that  ambiguous  term, 
is  the  legal  fiction  required  by  the  legal  mind  to  con- 
nect the  growing  conceptions  of  the  authority  of  the 
clergy  with  the  earlier  days  of  Christianity.  .  .  .  The 
formal,  legal  Roman  mind  needed  a  precedent  in  the 
shape  of  this  legal  fiction  for  the  unwonted  domination 

1  Vide  "The  Church  and  the  Ministry,"  pp.  164 — 5. 

2  Vide  ibid.,  p.  169. 

3  Vide  "  History  of  Dogma,"  p.  71. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  89. 

5  Ibid.,  p.  92. 

6  Ibid.,  p.  114. 

100 


S.  Cyprian 

which  the  chief  pastors  were  beginning  to  claim." 1 
Gibbon  connects  Cyprian  with  the  rapid  development 
of  episcopal  authority  which  marked  the  third  century, 
and  characteristically  describes  him  as  a  specimen  of 
those  "  active  prelates  who  could  reconcile  the  arts  of 
the  most  ambitious  statesman  with  the  Christian  virtues 
which  seemed  adapted  to  the  character  of  a  saint  and 
martyr."  2 

3.  These  authorities  will  suffice  to  indicate  the 
critical  importance  of  S.  Cyprian's  career,  and  the 
nature  of  his  influence  in  succeeding  ages.  It  will  be 
worth  while  to  glance  at  the  famous  little  treatise  "  On 
the  Unity  of  the  Church,"  in  which  his  doctrine  is  clearly 
and  shortly  set  forth.  It  has  been  described  as  "  in  the 
main  a  fierce  rhetorical  tirade  against  the  sin  of  schism,"3 
and  such  it  is  ;  but  it  is  also  a  vigorous  statement  of  a 
theory,  which  dominated  the  writer's  mind,  and  we 
must  add,  which  lays  its  malefic  spell  on  many  Christians 
still.  It  is  mere  justice  to  remember  that  this  tract 
was  an  "emergency  document,"  struck  out  in  the  heat 
of  a  serious  crisis.  This  circumstance,  however,  has 
nowise  diminished  its  effect  in  later  times,  and  cannot 
of  course  affect  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  theory 
which  it  propounds.  Archbishop  Benson  assigns 
the  treatise  to  the  year  251,  and  thinks  that  it  was 
read  to  the  council  which  assembled  in  Carthage  in 
the  course  of  that  year.4    Cyprian  had  just  returned 

1  Vide  "  The  Church  and  the  Ministry  in  the  Early  Centuries," 
pp.  279,  282. 

2  Vide  "  Decline  and  Fall,"  ed.  Bury,  ii.  44. 
8  Vide  Bigg,  I.e.,  p.  371. 

4  Vide  "Cyprian,"  p.  180. 


101 


Westminster  Sermons 


to  his  diocese  after  the  short  and  sharp  persecution  of 
Decius,  and  he  found  himself  confronted  by  a  very 
serious  crisis.  How  were  the  numerous  lapsed  Chris- 
tians to  be  dealt  with  ?  Novatian  was  appealing  to 
the  stern  enthusiasm  which  had  been  generated  in 
many  minds  by  the  "  fiery  trial  "  of  persecution,  and 
threatening  to  break  up  the  unity  of  the  Church  if  a 
way  of  repentance  were  provided  for  those  who  had 
fallen  before  the  temptation.  There  was  much  excuse 
for  excitement  and  exaggeration,  but  these  have  sur- 
vived their  extenuations,  and  stamped  Cyprian's 
treatise  with  a  harshness  which  cannot  be  defended. 

He  assumes,  perhaps  inevitably,  the  Christian  refer- 
ence of  Mosaic  laws,  identifies  his  own  opinion  with 
the  truth  which  it  is  sinful  to  abandon,  postulates  the 
divine  institution  of  the  episcopate,  and  then  makes 
the  postulate  the  basis  of  his  argument.  He  is  fond  of 
metaphors,  and  reasons  from  them  freely  ;  finally  he 
is  carried  by  the  vehemence  of  his  feeling  and  the  flow 
of  his  rhetoric  into  statements  which  are  even  shocking. 
"  He  can  no  longer  have  God  for  his  Father,  who  has 
not  the  Church  for  his  mother.  If  any  one  could  escape 
who  was  outside  the  ark  of  Noah,  then  he  also  may 
escape  who  shall  be  outside  of  the  Church.  .  .  .  Let 
none  think  that  the  good  can  depart  from  the  Church. 
The  wind  does  not  carry  away  the  wheat,  nor  does 
the  hurricane  uproot  the  tree  that  is  based  on  a  solid 
root.  .  .  .  Do  they  deem  that  they  have  Christ  with 
them  when  they  are  collected  together,  who  are 
gathered  together  outside  the  Church  of  Christ  ?  Even 
if  such  men  were  slain  in  confession  of  the  Name, 
that  stain  is  not  even  washed  away  by  blood:  the 


102 


S.  Cyprian 

inexpiable  and  grave  fault  of  discord  is  not  even  purged 
by  suffering.  He  cannot  be  a  martyr  who  is  not  in  the 
Church.  .  .  .  They  cannot  dwell  with  God  who  would 
not  be  of  one  mind  in  God's  Church.  Although  they 
burn,  given  up  to  flames  and  fires,  or  lay  down  their 
lives,  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts,  that  will  not  be  the 
crown  of  faith,  but  the  punishment  of  perfidy;  nor 
will  it  be  the  glorious  ending  of  religious  valour,  but 
the  destruction  of  despair.  Such  an  one  may  be  slain  ; 
crowned  he  cannot  be.  .  .  .  Does  he  think  that  he  has 
Christ,  who  acts  in  opposition  to  Christ's  priests,  who 
separates  himself  from  the  company  of  His  clergy  and 
people  ?  He  bears  arms  against  the  Church,  he  con- 
tends against  God's  appointment.  An  enemy  of  the 
altar,  a  rebel  against  Christ's  sacrifice,  for  the  faith 
faithless,  for  religion  profane,  a  disobedient  servant,  an 
impious  son,  a  hostile  brother,  despising  the  bishops, 
and  forsaking  God's  priests,  he  dares  to  set  up  another 
altar,  to  make  another  prayer  with  unauthorized  words, 
to  profane  the  truth  of  the  Lord's  offering  by  false 
sacrifices,  and  not  to  know  that  he  who  strives  against 
the  appointment  of  God,  is  punished  on  account  of  the 
daring  of  his  temerity  by  Divine  visitation."  Then  the 
history  of  Korah,  Dathan  and  Abiram  is  quoted  as 
an  example  of  the  divine  judgment  on  schismatics. 
This  shocking  doctrine  finds  expression  in  other  writings 
of  Cyprian.  Thus  in  one  of  his  letters,  he  says  that 
obedience  to  the  bishops  is  indispensable  to  salvation. 
"  For  outside  the  Church  they  cannot  live,  inasmuch  as 
the  house  of  God  is  one,  and  no  one  can  be  safe  but 
in  the  Church." 

Such  language,  of  course,  is  capable  of  a  tolerable 

103 


Westminster  Sermons 


sense.  If  by  the  Church  you  mean  "the  whole  com- 
pany of  faithful  people  dispersed  throughout  the  whole 
world,"  then  you  may  speak  in  as  as  absolute  terms  as 
you  will  about  the  importance  of  membership ;  but 
Cyprian  categorically  limited  his  definition  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  to  the  community  governed  by  the 
bishops,  and  refused  to  contemplate  any  wider  sense. 
It  is  true  that  he  insisted  with  fervour,  and  doubtless 
with  sincerity,  on  the  cardinal  importance  of  love  and 
righteousness,  and  he  was  right  in  saying  that  schis- 
matic action  implied  the  loss  of  both  ;  but  he  assumed 
that  love  and  righteousness  belonged  only  to  his  epis- 
copal church,  and  denounced  every  separation  as 
schismatical.  Carried  on  by  his  polemical  ardour  he 
actually  maintained  that  episcopal  authority  depended 
for  its  validity  on  the  personal  goodness  of  the  individual 
bishop,  and  thus  unwittingly  became  the  conspicuous 
patron  of  the  very  principle  of  schismatic  puritanism. 
This  development  of  his  theory,  however,  has  been 
tacitly  abandoned  within  the  Church,  and  few  of  those 
who  quote  the  language  of  Cyprian  in  the  cause  of 
episcopacy  care  to  remember  this  part  of  his  teaching. 

4.  Cyprian,  I  have  said,  was  one  of  the  most 
eminent  Christians  that  have  ever  lived,  and  I  have 
pleaded  that  fact  as  my  apology  for  bringing  his  career 
before  you  this  afternoon.  In  the  controversy  with  the 
followers  of  Novatian,  he  was  standing  for  the  truly 
evangelical  attribute  of  mercy,  and  his  writings,  in 
spite  of  their  terrible  theory,  are  everywhere  suffused 
with  pastoral  tenderness.  "  Of  his  greatest  gifts  the 
greatest  was  his  charity,"  writes  Archbishop  Benson, 
following  the  earlier  judgment  of  S.  Augustine.  The 

104 


S.  Cyprian 

great  controversialist  of  the  fourth  century,  who  stands 
in  the  annals  of  the  Church  as  the  apologist  of  Christian 
persecution,  realized  his  spiritual  kinship  with  the  great 
controversialist  of  the  third  century,  who  stands  in  the 
record  as  the  champion  of  episcopalianism.  "  Praise  be 
to  God !  "  he  writes,  with  respect  to  Cyprian,  "  who 
made  this  man  what  he  was,  to  set  forth  before  His 
Church  .  .  .  the  worthlessness  of  the  charity  of  any  Chris- 
tian, who  would  not  keep  the  unity  of  Christ."  Identify 
"the  unity  of  Christ"  with  membership  of  the  epis- 
copal church,  and  you  have  the  Cyprianic  doctrine 
justly  described,  and  its  fatal  falsehood  revealed.  The 
union  of  personal  goodness  and  false  teaching,  of  per- 
sonal charity  and  cruel  intolerance,  of  love  and  bigotry, 
is  unhappily  familiar.  Of  the  cruellest  persecutors  it  is 
no  uncommon  thing  to  read  that  they  were  themselves 
conspicuous  for  acts  of  charity.  In  the  third  century 
the  full  possibilities  of  the  contradiction  were  as  yet 
veiled,  but  in  the  twentieth  they  may  be  read  in  the 
blood-stained  annals  of  Christian  bigotry  which  span 
the  interval.  Harnack  allows  himself  to  make  a  stern 
comment  on  the  paradox  as  we  meet  it  now : — 

"The  appeal  which  Catholicism  makes  to  love,  even  at  the 
present  day,  in  order  to  justify  its  secularised  and  tyrannical 
Church,  turns  in  the  mouth  of  hierarchical  politicians  into 
hypocrisy,  of  which  one  would  like  to  acquit  a  man  of  Cyprian's 
stamp."  1 

"Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged  "  said  our  Lord, 
and  we  may  not  forget  His  words  even  in  presence  of 
this  immense  perversion  of  His  gospel,  which  has  made 

1  "  History  of  Dogma,"  ii.  86,  note. 

105 


Westminster  Sermons 


possible  the  language  of  love  and  the  policy  of  persecu- 
tion ;  but  we  must  take  account  of  the  possibilities  of 
self-delusion  which  are  latent  in  our  nature,  and  mark 
the  blinding  influences  of  false  theory  and  party  zeal. 
The  very  fact  that  Cyprian  and  Augustine  were 
genuinely  good  men  adds  to  the  significance  of  the 
warnings  which  their  careers  disclose. 

5.  There  is  special  reason  why  the  moral  of 
S.  Cyprian's  career  should  be  pressed  on  the  attention 
of  English  churchmen.  Of  the  reformed  churches  the 
Church  of  England  in  the  process  of  reformation  made 
the  least  violent  breach  with  the  system  of  the  mediaeval 
Church.  That  there  was  great  advantage  in  this  cir- 
cumstance cannot  be  seriously  questioned,  for  the 
shadow  of  all  reformations  is  precisely  the  violence  of 
the  breaches  which  they  necessitate  with  the  past.  It 
will  not  be  excessive  to  say  that  English  churchmen  are 
the  envy  of  the  Protestant  world  for  their  liturgical 
heritage.  The  Prayer  Book  has  no  adequate  parallel  in 
any  other  reformed  church.  But  with  these  advantages 
there  have  certainly  gone  special  perils.  So  long  as 
the  terror  of  the  great  crisis  lay  on  the  Anglican  mind, 
there  was  no  risk  that  the  true  meaning  of  reformation 
should  be  obscured,  but  when  time  had  softened  the 
shock  of  conflict,  and  the  very  completeness  of  success 
had  obscured  the  magnitude  of  the  old  dangers,  then 
some  of  the  former  mischiefs  began  to  lift  their  heads 
again,  and  the  former  errors  to  grow  from  the  old  roots. 
If  we  inquire  what  was  the  essential  character  of  the 
Reformation,  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  if  we  answer 
that  it  was  the  definite  repudiation  of  the  Cyprianic 
conception  of  the  Church.    The  Reformers  revolted 

106 


S.  Cyprian 

against  the  notion  that  the  primary  and  vital  obligation 
of  discipleship,  with  which  was  bound  up  the  very  right 
of  a  Christian  man  to  claim  the  promises  of  God  in  the 
Gospel,  was  obedience  to  the  external  authority  of  the 
episcopate.  That  authority  had  in  the  process  of  time, 
and  by  a  true  inevitable  development,  become  vested  in 
the  Pope,  as  supreme  head  of  the  bishops ;  but  this 
circumstance  in  no  degree  altered  its  character.  "  A 
one-man  theory  of  the  local  church  could  hardly  fail  to 
suggest  a  one-man  theory  of  the  Church  universal," 
and  it  is  one  of  the  ironies  of  history  that  Cyprian,  who 
has  passed  as  the  champion  of  the  episcopate  against 
the  Papacy,  was  in  point  of  fact  the  individual  who, 
more  than  any  other,  may  be  said  to  have  carried  the 
papal  principle  into  the  Christian  Church.  It  is,  of 
course,  easy  enough  to  demonstrate  that  S.  Cyprian 
did  not  hold  the  modern  Roman  doctrine  of  papal 
infallibility,  but  it  is  not  less  easy  to  show  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  episcopate,  which  he  formulated,  passed 
by  successive  stages  of  natural  development  into  that 
doctrine.  The  difference  between  the  teaching  of  the 
treatise  "  of  the  unity  of  the  Church,"  and  the  decree 
of  the  Vatican  Council  is  only  a  difference  in  degree. 
The  earliest  Anglican  commentator  on  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  rightly  spoke  of  the  dogma  of  apostolic  suc- 
cession as  a  Roman  doctrine.1 

6.  It  needs  not  that  I  should  offer  evidence  for  the 
statement  that  this  truly  Roman  dogma  has  been  re- 
affirmed of  late  years  by  a  school  of  English  churchmen 
with  such  pertinacity  and  success,  that  at  the  present 
time  it  has  almost  become  a  postulate  of  Anglicanism. 

1  Vide  "  Rogers  on  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,"  p.  175  (Parker  Soc). 

107 


Westminster  Sermons 


The  first  of  the  famous  "Tracts  for  the  Times  "  was  a 
vigorous  statement  of  "  Apostolic  Succession,"  the 
fourth  was  significantly  headed  "  Adherence  to  the 
Apostolic  Succession  the  Safest  Course,"  the  fifteenth 
and  nineteenth  dealt  with  the  same  subject,  and  the 
argument  of  these  Tracts  was  supported  by  a  series  of 
"  records  of  the  Church,"  among  which  S.  Cyprian's 
famous  treatise  was  included.  Two  generations  ago 
the  teaching  of  the  Tracts  was  generally  resented  as 
novel,  as  well  as  erroneous.  Now  it  has  passed  into 
the  normal  language  of  Anglican  divines.  Our 
ecclesiastical  history  has  been  re-written  from  this  point 
of  view  ;  and  the  Anglican  of  to-day  is  carefully  taught 
to  regard  the  consecration  of  Matthew  Parker  as  the 
very  turning  point,  the  "  to  be  or  not  to  be,"  of  English 
Christianity.  The  twentieth  century  is  not  as  the 
third.  Even  the  most  ardent  episcopalian  of  to-day 
would  shrink  from  the  fierce  intolerance  of  Cyprian 
which  could  see  no  sincerity  in  non-episcopalian  good- 
ness, and  no  heroism  in  non-episcopalian  martyrdom. 
Yet  under  soft  disguises  of  calculated  euphemisms  the 
old  bad  leaven  works,  and  the  intolerant  theory  is  now, 
as  then,  hidden  by  the  personal  excellence  of  its 
advocates.  Dr.  Pusey  was  a  saintly  man,  whose 
private  charities  were  abundant,  but  he  could  allow 
himself  to  suggest  that  "supernatural  lives  of  grace" 
could  not  be  exhibited  by  the  members  of  a  non- 
episcopal  church,  and  that  only  when  the  gospel  was 
preached  by  those  who  accompanied  it  by  an  episcopal 
ministry  could  it  be  permanent.1  Lesser  men  than 
Dr.  Pusey  in  thousands  of  parishes  are  making  the 
1  Vide  "  Eirenicon,"  pp.  274,  278. 
108 


S.  Cyprian 

same  suggestions  in  cruder  and  harsher  terms.  A  few 
weeks  since  the  most  widely  circulated  Anglican  news- 
paper published  a  leading  article  in  which  the  doctrine 
of  S.  Cyprian  was  applied  to  the  sister  Church  of 
Scotland  in  language  of  deliberate  and  wounding 
insult.1  Even  the  solemn  pronouncements  of  the 
Lambeth  Conference  are  found,  when  carefully  con- 
sidered, to  have  as  their  underlying  assumption  the 
same  obstinate  and  ancient  error.  Thus  the  historic 
source  of  ecclesiastical  strife  is  jealously  guarded  even 
when  the  object  of  reunion  is  professedly,  and  no  doubt 
sincerely,  pursued.  Could  the  pathos  of  self-delusion 
be  more  impressively  displayed  ? 

7.  But  I  am  loth  to  close  on  the  note  of  hopeless- 
ness. There  are  some  reassuring  signs.  At  this 
moment,  as  the  newspapers  inform  us,  there  is  a 
conference  proceeding  in  Upsala,  between  representa- 
tives of  the  national  Churches  of  England  and  Sweden 
with  a  view  to  arrange  closer  relations  and  ultimate 
intercommunion.  If  we  may  take  for  granted  the 
accuracy  of  the  short  reports  of  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester's  sermon  in  Stockholm  last  Sunday,  his 
lordship,  as  indeed  might  fairly  be  expected  from  him, 
has  set  aside  the  Cyprianic  doctrine,  and  re-affirmed  the 
nobler  doctrine  of  S.  Paul.  After  stating  that  the 
object  of  his  mission  to  Sweden  was  "  to  negotiate  an 
alliance  between  the  two  Churches,  so  closely  con- 
nected by  tenets  and  historical  tradition,"  the  Bishop 
proceeded  to  say  that  "  the  alliance  in  question  would 
be  based  on  conformity  in  fundamental  doctrine,  and 
would  aim  at  perfect  unity  independently  of  perfect 
1  Vide  The  Church  Times,  September  3,  1909. 
log 


Westminster  Sermons 


uniformity,  national  characteristics  being  above  all 
respected."  Yes ;  agreement  in  fundamental  belief  is 
the  true  basis  of  religious  fellowship,  not  acceptance  of 
a  single  form  of  external  order.  If  that  basis  be  allowed, 
we  need  not  go  so  far  as  Sweden  to  find  churches  with 
which  we  can  and  ought  to  be  in  communion.  Charity 
might  fitly  begin  at  home :  but  had  better  begin  else- 
where than  not  at  all.  When  we  ask  what  we  must 
understand  by  such  "fundamental  belief"  surely  we 
must  needs  betake  ourselves  to  the  New  Testament, 
and  inquire  what  then,  at  the  beginning,  when  apostles 
declared  the  gospel,  was  the  core  and  essence  of  the  faith. 
"  If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  Jesus  as 
Lord, — writes  S.  Paul  to  the  Romans — "  and  shalt 
believe  in  thy  heart  that  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead, 
thou  shalt  be  saved."  There  is  the  sufficient  basis  for 
the  covenant  of  intercommunion  between  the  churches ; 
all  else,  questions  of  system  and  discipline,  may  be 
discussed  with  temper  when  that  covenant  is  owned, 
and  not  before.  Self-assertion  is  always  a  principle  of 
isolation.  This  is  as  true  of  churches  as  of  individuals. 
The  Church  of  England  is  the  most  isolated  of  all 
the  churches  ;  and  also  of  all  the  reformed  churches 
the  Church  of  England  has  raised  highest  its 
denominational  claim.  Let  us  abate  the  latter,  and  we 
shall  remedy  the  former.  Not  in  the  temper  of  mere 
expediency,  not  under  the  coercion  of  a  hated  necessity, 
but  in  the  ardent  energy  of  fraternal  love  breaking 
through  the  barriers  which  time  and  circumstance  have 
reared,  in  the  spontaneous  sacrifice  of  penitence  cast- 
ing on  the  altar  the  surrendered  claim,  in  the  holy 
confidence  of  faith,  sure  that  when  all  is  finally  referred 


no 


S.  Cyprian 

to  the  will  of  Christ,  all  will  be  well  with  us,  let  us 
advance  to  meet  our  long-separated  brethren,  and  own 
our  spiritual  kinship.  When  all  is  said,  there  is  a 
primary  law  of  discipleship,  the  new  commandment 
of  the  Lord  Himself,  which  no  later  canons  of 
ecclesiastical  authority  can  avail  to  abrogate,  and  that 
law  requires  that  Christians  should  prove  their  right 
to  the  name  by  mutual  love :  "  By  this  shall  all  men 
know  that  ye  are  My  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one 
to  another."  Isolation  kills  sympathy  ;  fellowship 
strengthens  love.  There  is  an  inner  witness  of  the 
spirit  which  like  a  law  of  nature  demands  expression 
and  obedience.  We  stand  apart  in  spite  of  ourselves ; 
this  strife  of  the  churches  is  as  unnatural  as  it  is 
deplorable. 


in 


VIII 


RICHARD  BAXTER  (1615— 1691)1 

THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  JUST  IS  BLESSED. — PROVERBS  X.  7. 
BLESSED  ARE  THE  PEACE-MAKERS. — S.  MATTHEW  V.  9. 

On  November  12,  1615 — according  to  his  own  state- 
ment— Richard  Baxter  was  born.  It  was  the  Lord's 
day,  he  is  careful  to  relate,  and  his  birth  took  place  "  in 
the  morning  at  the  time  of  divine  worship."  I  propose 
to  depart  from  the  common  type  of  sermon  in  order  to 
recall  the  memory  of  one  of  the  best  and  best  worth 
remembering  of  English  saints. 

If  I  could  have  my  way,  there  are  two  books  which 
every  candidate  for  holy  orders  in  the  Church  of 
England  should  be  required  to  know  well.  The  one 
is  Richard  Baxter's  "  Narrative  of  the  Most  Memor- 
able Passages  of  His  Life  and  Times,"  the  other  is  his 
once  well-known  work,  "  The  Reformed  Pastor,"  a 
treatise,  as  the  sub-title  states,  "  Shewing  the  Nature  of 
the  Pastoral  Work  ;  Especially  in  Private  Instruction 
and  Catechising :  With  an  Open  Confession  of  Our 
Too  Open  Sins,  Prepared  for  a  Day  of  Humiliation 
Kept  at  Worcester,  December  4,  1655,  by  the  Ministers 
of  that  County,  who  Subscribed  the  Agreement  for 
Catechising  and  Personal  Instruction  at  their  Entrance 

1  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  November  12, 1905,  being 
the  anniversary  of  Richard  Baxter's  birth. 

112 


Richard  Baxter 


upon  that  Work."  If  you  will  allow  me  to  make  a 
personal  confession,  I  will  freely  admit  that  those 
books,  which  I  read  soon  after  my  own  ordination, 
made  a  greater  and  more  abiding  impression  on  me 
than  any  with  which  they  can  be  compared.  The  one 
explained,  as  none  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  anti- 
ecclesiastical  histories  of  the  present  day  are  able  to 
do,  the  religious  situation  in  which  we  in  England  are 
placed  ;  the  other,  in  spite  of  the  immense  changes  of 
social  condition,  which  render  its  actual  proposals 
obsolete,  gave  me  a  view  of  the  greatness  and  the 
gravity  of  pastoral  work,  which  the  modern  manuals 
designed  for  the  guidance  of  young  clergymen  are  not 
able  to  give.  These  two  works,  in  some  respects  the 
most  characteristic,  and  certainly  among  the  most 
important,  of  all  Baxter's  writings,  will  be  the 
principal  authorities  on  which  I  shall  base  my  present 
discourse.  Let  me,  in  passing,  advise  all  of  you  to  read 
or  read  again,  the  luminous  and  delightful  essay  on 
Richard  Baxter  included  in  the  well-known  "  Essays 
in  Ecclesiastical  Biography,"  by  Sir  James  Stephen. 

The  life  of  Baxter  covered  a  most  eventful  and 
important  epoch  of  national  history.  His  birth  was 
within  ten  years  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  and  his  death 
within  three  years  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  a  man  of 
twenty-five  when  the  Long  Parliament  began  its  memor- 
able sessions  at  Westminster;  when  he  was  thirty-four, 
Charles  I.  was  beheaded  in  Whitehall,  and  within  a 
few  months  of  that  terrible  tragedy,  Baxter  published 
the  most  popular  of  all  his  works,  "  The  Saints'  Ever- 
lasting Rest."  At  the  Restoration  he  was  in  the  prime 
of  his  powers,  forty-five  years  old,  and  from  Charles  II. 

113  H 


Westminster  Sermons 


he  received  the  offer  of  the  Bishopric  of  Hereford, 
which — justly  suspecting  the  King's  good  faith— he 
declined.  He  was  at  the  age  of  seventy-three  an 
active  opponent  of  the  policy  of  James  II.,  and  he  lived 
to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  Toleration  Act  which  distin- 
guished the  reign  of  William  III.  When  he  died  in 
1691,  his  name  was  universally  honoured  by  Anglicans 
and  nonconformists  alike,  and  when  he  was  buried 
beside  his  wife  and  mother  in  Christ  Church,  London, 
it  is  said  that  there  had  never  been  such  a  private 
funeral  seen  in  England.  Dr.  Grosart,  in  the 
"  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  sets  down  a  list 
of  forty-one  works,  and  points  out  that  these  are  but  a 
part  of  his  writings.  Orme,  the  editor  of  his  practical 
works  in  twenty-three  volumes,  has  collected  the  names 
of  no  less  than  168  separate  works.  "  His  '  Holy 
Commonwealth  '  had  the  distinction  of  being  burned 
at  Oxford  along  with  Milton's  and  John  Goodwin's 
books.  The  most  diverse  minds  have  their  favourites 
among  his  books.  There  never  has  been  a  day  since 
1649  that  something  by  him  was  not  in  print.  His 
works  have  still  a  matchless  circulation  among  the 
English-speaking  race.  They  have  also  been  largely 
translated  into  many  languages."  He  is,  perhaps,  the 
most  interesting  ecclesiastic  of  an  epoch  in  which 
ecclesiastics  played  an  unusually  prominent  part  in  the 
national  life.  Never  before,  and  never  since,  has  the 
clerical  profession  included  so  great  a  proportion  of  the 
ablest  Englishmen.  Theology  was  supreme  in  every 
department  of  thought  in  the  seventeenth  century ; 
men  governed  their  common  life  by  theological  argu- 
ments, and  directed  their  political  course  by  the  chart 

114 


Richard  Baxter 

of  scripture.  Baxter  moved  among  his  contemporaries 
as  one  who  had  serious  personal  disadvantages  to  con- 
tend against.  From  the  cradle  he  was  the  martyr  of 
disease;  he  believed  himself  to  be  always  "looking 
death  in  the  face,"  and  in  his  own  memorable  phrase 
he  preached,  "  as  a  dying  man  to  dying  men."  Yet 
such  was  the  ardour  of  his  spirit,  and  the  concentrated 
fervour  of  his  purpose,  that  he  lived  to  old  age,  and 
retained  his  vigour  to  the  very  end  of  his  laborious  life. 
He  was  not  reared  under  ordinary  conditions.  The 
first  ten  years  of  his  life  were  spent  away  from  his 
parents,  and  I  think  there  are  signs  in  his  later  career 
that  he  had  had  an  unhappy  childhood.  He  was  not 
taught  in  the  regular  way ;  he  never  went  to  the 
university  like  other  young  men  designed  for  the 
ministry  ;  and,  throughout  his  life,  he  dwelt  on  the  fact 
with  a  persistence  which  reveals  his  deep  mortification. 
The  effect  of  this  abnormal  upbringing  was  to  stamp 
on  him  a  certain  incorrigible  oddity,  which  hindered 
him  from  fitting  into  any  groove,  or  accepting  any  party. 
He  had  an  ingenuous  and  almost  child-like  inability  to 
realize  the  probable  aspect  of  his  own  procedure  in  the 
eyes  of  his  contemporaries,  and,  though  they  perforce 
did  homage  to  his  transparent  sincerity  and  singular 
courage,  they  never  understood  him,  nor  was  he  at  any 
time  popular.  Ecclesiastically,  moreover,  he  was  non- 
descript. He  had  received  episcopal  ordination,  but  he 
repudiated  episcopacy  in  its  Anglican  form  ;  he  eagerly 
advocated  the  Presbyterian  discipline,  but  he  repudiated 
the  name  Presbyterian,  and,  though  he  had  himself 
taken  the  covenant,  he  used  his  influence  to  prevent  his 
flock  at  Kidderminster  from  following  his  example.  He 

115  H  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


was  the  apostle  of  comprehension,  and,  none  the  less,  he 
resisted  the  Cromwellian  policy  of  toleration.  He 
venerated  hereditary  monarchy  with  a  religious 
veneration,  and  yet  acquiesced  in  the  despotism  of 
Cromwell.  He  denounced  the  pettiness  of  the 
sectaries  to  their  faces  when  they  were  in  power,  and 
cast  in  his  lot  with  them  in  the  hour  of  their  overthrow. 
He  was  never  tired  of  lamenting  the  spiritual  mischiefs 
of  controversy,  and  was  himself  the  most  copious  and 
effective  controversialist  of  his  time.  He  appreciated 
and  even  used  the  venerable  formularies  of  the  Prayer 
Book,  but,  none  the  less,  he  offended  all  moderate  men 
by  proposing  a  composition  of  his  own  as  a  substitute 
for  them,  when  the  opportunity  came  at  the  Savoy 
Conference.  Yet,  in  spite  of  these  disadvantages  and 
inconsistencies,  it  will  not  be  disputed  by  any  student 
of  the  seventeenth  century  that  the  general  opinion  of 
his  contemporaries  placed  Richard  Baxter  at  the 
head  of  religious  men.  Dr.  Barrow  said  that  "  his 
practical  writings  were  never  mended,  and  his  contro- 
versial ones  seldom  confuted,"  and  Bishop  Wilkins 
asserted  that  "  if  he  had  lived  in  the  primitive  time,  he 
had  been  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church."  The 
admirable  Sir  Matthew  Hale  was  his  intimate  friend. 
Later  judgments  have  been  scarcely  less  favourable. 
Coleridge's  opinion  has  been  often  quoted : — 

"  Pray  read  with  great  attention  Baxter's  life  of  himself.  It 
is  an  inestimable  work.  I  may  not  unfrequently  doubt  Baxter's 
memory  or  even  his  competence,  in  consequence  of  his  particular 
modes  of  thinking  ;  but  I  could  almost  as  soon  doubt  the  gospel 
verity  as  his  veracity."1 


1  Vide  "  Table  Talk,"  p.  47. 
Il6 


1 


Richard  Baxter 


Bishop  Burnet,  who  was  little  likely  to  understand 
Baxter's  unworldly  zeal  for  holiness,  yet  describes 
him  not  unfairly  as 

"  A  man  of  great  piety  ;  and,  if  he  had  not  meddled  in  too  many 
things,  would  have  been  esteemed  one  of  the  learned  men  of  the 
age.  .  .  .  He  had  a  very  moving  and  pathetical  way  of  writing, 
and  was  his  whole  life  long  a  man  of  great  zeal  and  much 
simplicity,  but  was  most  unhappily  subtle  and  metaphysical  in 
everything."  1 

A  modern  Anglican  writer,  Dr.  Luckock,  while 
admitting  that  Baxter  was  "  absolutely  without  an 
equal  in  guilelessness  and  personal  piety,"  accuses  him 
of  excessive  self-reliance,  "  seeing  only  with  his  own 
eyes  and  wholly  incapable  of  understanding  the  posi- 
tion of  an  opponent."  This  judgment  finds  little 
justification  in  Baxter's  life  and  writings.  It  would  be 
nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  Baxter  understood  so  well 
his  opponent's  position,  and  so  largely  sympathized  with 
it,  that  he  assumed  a  much  closer  agreement  than  really 
existed.  Hence  he  was  always  suspected  in  his  own 
camp,  and  never  altogether  trusted  in  the  camp  of  his 
opponents.  Friends  and  foes  felt  that  he  was  not 
altogether  what  they  required,  a  trimmer  in  fact,  but  of 
the  heroic  sort,  with  a  footing  in  both  camps,  always 
to  his  own  loss.  No  sect  or  party  frankly  approved 
him,  and  the  zealots  of  all  sects  and  parties  regarded 
him  with  suspicion  and  dislike.  Baxter,  like  S. 
Augustine,  has  left  on  record  an  account  of  the 
changes  which,  in  the  course  of  time,  passed  over  his 
own  opinions.  There  are  few  passages  in  our  literature 
which  are  better  worth  study  than  the  pages  which 


1  Vide  "  History  of  his  Own  Times,"  p.  123. 
117 


Westminster  Sermons 


contain  the  great  Puritan's  self-review.    No  sincere  and 

religious  man  can  read  them  without  loving  the  writer. 

He  tells  how  time  had  moderated  his  controversial 

ardour,  and  enabled  him  to  seethe  truths  of  Christianity 

in  a  juster  scale  of  importance. 

"  In  my  youth  I  was  quickly  past  my  fundamentals,  and  was 
running  up  into  a  multitude  of  controversies,  and  greatly  delighted 
with  metaphysical  and  scholastic  writings  (though  I  must  needs 
say,  my  preaching  was  still  on  the  necessary  points)  ;  but  the 
elder  I  grew  the  smaller  stress  I  laid  upon  these  controversies  and 
curiosities  (though  still  my  intellect  abhorred  confusion).  .  .  . 
And  now  it  is  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Catechism  which  I 
highliest  value  and  daily  think  of  and  find  most  useful  to  myself 
and  others  :  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments do  find  me  now  the  most  acceptable  and  plentiful  matter 
for  all  my  meditations  :  they  are  to  me  as  my  daily  bread  and 
drink  ;  and  as  I  can  speak  and  write  of  them  over  and  over 
again,  so  I  had  rather  read  or  hear  of  them  than  of  any  of  the 
school  niceties  which  once  so  pleased  me."  1 

He  tells  ingenuously  how  his  doubts  had  changed. 
When  he  was  a  young  man  he  had  never  been  tempted 
"  to  doubt  of  the  truth  of  scripture  or  Christianity,  but 
all  his  doubts  and  fears  were  exercised  at  home  about 
his  own  sincerity  and  interest  in  Christ,"  but  as  he 
grew  older  "  his  sorest  assaults  had  been  on  the  other 
side,  and  such  they  were  that,  had  he  been  void  of 
internal  experience  and  the  adhesion  of  love  and  the 
special  help  of  God  and  had  not  discerned  more  reason 
for  his  religion  than  he  did  when  he  was  younger,  he 
had  certainly  apostatized  to  infidelity."  "  I  am  now," 
he  says,  "  therefore  much  more  apprehensive  than 
heretofore  of  the  necessity  of  well  grounding  men  in 
their  religion,  and  especially  of  the  witness  of  the 
indwelling  Spirit  ;  for  I  more  sensibly  perceive  that 

1  Vide  "  Rel.  Baxterianiae,"  I.  127. 
Il8 


Richard  Baxter 


the  Spirit  is  the  great  witness  of  Christ  and  Christianity 
to  the  world ;  and  though  the  folly  of  fanaticks  [here 
he  glances  at  his  conflicts  with  the  Quakers]  tempted 
me  long  to  overlook  the  strength  of  this  testimony  of 
the  Spirit  .  .  .  yet  now  I  see  that  the  Holy  Ghost  .  .  . 
is  the  witness  of  Christ  and  His  agent  in  the  world." 
Experience  had  made  him  much  more  sensible  of  the 
evil  of  schism,  while  his  principles  of  church  com- 
munion became  steadily  broader.  His  prayers  took  a 
wider  range  and  were  inspired  by  a  more  catholic 
spirit. 

"  My  soul  is  much  more  afflicted  with  the  thoughts  of  the 
miserable  world,  and  more  drawn  out  in  desire  of  their  conversion 
than  heretofore  :  I  was  wont  to  look  but  little  further  than  Eng- 
land in  my  prayers  as  not  considering  the  state  of  the  rest  of  the 
world :  or  if  I  prayed  lor  the  conversion  of  the  Jews  that  was 
almost  all.  But  now  as  I  better  understand  the  case  of  the  world, 
and  the  method  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  so  there  is  nothing  in  the 
world  that  lieth  so  heavy  upon  my  heart  as  the  thought  of  the  miser- 
able nations  of  the  earth.  .  .  .  No  part  of  my  prayers  are  so  deeply 
serious  as  that  for  the  conversion  of  the  infidel  and  ungodly  world, 
that  God's  name  may  be  sanctified,  and  His  kingdom  come,  and 
His  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  .  .  .  Could  we  but  go 
among  Tartarians,  Turks,  and  heathens,  and  speak  their  lan- 
guage, I  should  be  but  little  troubled  for  the  silencing  of  1,800 
ministers  at  once  in  England,  nor  for  all  the  rest  that  were  cast  out 
here,  and  in  Scotland,  and  Ireland  :  [here  he  makes  allusion  to  the 
expulsion  of  the  nonconformists  from  the  parishes  under  the  Act 
of  Uniformity]  there  being  no  employment  in  the  world  so  desir- 
able in  my  eyes,  as  to  labour  for  the  winning  of  such  miserable 
souls  :  which  maketh  me  greatly  honour  Mr.  John  Eliot,  the 
apostle  of  the  Indians  in  New  England,  and  whoever  else  have 
laboured  in  such  work." 

He  speaks  with  deep  feeling  of  that  great  purpose  of 
reconciling  the  churches,  to  which  he  had  devoted 
himself  with  such  strenuous  devotion  : — 

"  I  am  deeplier  afflicted  for  the  disagreements  of  Christians  than 
I  was  when  I  was  a  younger  Christian.    Except  the  case  of  the 


ny 


Westminster  Sermons 


infidel  world,  nothing  is  so  sad  and  grievous  to  my  thoughts,  as 
the  case  of  the  divided  Churches.  And  therefore  I  am  more 
deeply  sensible  of  the  sinfulness  of  those  prelates  and  pastors  of 
the  Churches,  who  are  the  principal  cause  of  these  divisions." 

In  view  of  the  recent  proposal,  as  an  eirenicon  within 
the  national  Church,  that  the  first  six  centuries  should  be 
accepted  as  a  standard  of  ceremonial  practice,  a  special 
interest  attaches  to  the  following  words : — 

"  I  have  spent  much  of  my  studies  about  the  terms  of  Christian 
concord,  and  have  over  and  over  considered  of  the  several  ways, 
which  several  sorts  of  reconcilers  have  devised  :  I  have  thought  of 
the  Papists'  way,  who  think  there  will  be  no  union,  but  by  coming 
over  wholly  to  their  Church  :  and  I  found  that  it  is  neither  desir- 
able nor  possible.  I  have  thought  and  thought  again  of  the  way 
of  the  moderating  Papists,  and  of  those  that  would  have  all  reduced 
to  the  state  of  the  times  of  Gregory  I.,  before  the  division  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Churches,  that  the  Pope  might  have  his  primacy, 
and  govern  all  the  Church  by  the  canons  of  the  Councils,  with  a 
salvo  to  the  rights  of  kings,  and  patriarchs,  and  prelates  ;  and  that 
the  doctrines  and  worship  which  then  were  received  might  prevail. 
And  for  my  own  part,  if  I  lived  in  such  a  state  of  the  Church,  I 
would  live  peaceably  as  glad  of  unity,  though  lamenting  the  cor- 
ruption and  tyranny  ;  but  I  am  fully  assured  that  none  of  these 
are  the  true  desirable  terms  of  unity,  nor  such  as  are  ever  like  to 
procure  an  universal  concord  :  and  I  am  sure  " — here  his  un- 
conquerable belief  in  the  ultimate  amenableness  of  men  to  reason 
comes  out — "  that  the  true  means  and  terms  of  concord  are 
obvious  and  easy  to  an  impartial  willing  mind." 

Baxter's  own  proposals  must  be  judged  from  the 
standpoint  of  his  age  ;  the  important  thing  for  us  to 
note  is  the  conclusion  to  which  he  had  been  brought,  as 
to  the  comparative  unimportance  of  the  matters  about 
which  Christians,  then  as  now,  were  quarrelling : — 

"  I  do  not  lay  so  great  stress  upon  the  external  modes  and  forms 
of  worship  as  many  young  professors  do.  ...  I  cannot  be  so 
narrow  in  my  principles  of  Church-communion  as  many  are  ;  that 
are  so  much  for  a  liturgy,  or  so  much  against  it,  so  much  for  cere- 
monies, or  so  much  against  them,  that  they  can  hold  communion 
with  no  Church  that  is  not  of  their  mind  and  way." 


120 


Richard  Baxter 


An  eminent  Anglican  prelate  of  our  own  time,  Bishop 
Charles  Wordsworth,  has  called  Baxter  a  "disap- 
pointing man,"  whose  "  enormous  amount  of  labour 
and  sacrifice  "  produced  comparatively  "  little  lasting 
fruit."  It  is  true  that  none  of  his  peace-making  pro- 
posals were  accepted,  and  that  he  himself  was  driven 
from  the  ministry  which  he  adorned,  and  subjected  to 
injury  and  insult.  The  Church  of  England  could  find 
no  use  for  the  best  pastor  in  the  country,  and  refused 
to  allow  liberty  of  preaching  to  a  man  who  had  been 
thought  worthy  of  a  mitre.  Failure  waited  on  Richard 
Baxter's  efforts  to  restore  harmony  to  the  Church  of 
Christ,  and  he  had  to  stand  by  in  compulsory  silence 
and  watch  the  scandals  of  the  Restoration.  Yet  if  you 
will  examine  the  facts  more  carefully,  I  think  you  will 
admit  that,  of  all  the  individual  careers  then  being 
accomplished  in  England,  there  was  none  which  in 
greatness  and  abiding  worth  can  compare  with  his. 
"  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers."  They  leave  behind 
them  on  the  page  of  history  a  record  which  for  ages  to 
come  provides  the  precedent  and  occasion  of  recon- 
ciliation. Is  it  not  profoundly  significant  that,  after 
the  lapse  of  more  than  two  centuries,  it  should  be 
possible  for  the  preacher  in  this  great  church  to 
take  as  the  theme  of  his  preaching  the  example 
of  the  Puritan  divine,  and  should  be  well  assured 
that,  in  doing  so,  he  commanded  the  approval  of 
his  hearers  ? 

I  have  recalled  the  memory  of  a  peacemaker,  whom 
both  Anglicans  and  Nonconformists  unite  in  honouring, 
because  we  have  reached  a  point  in  our  national  history 
at  which  it  is  the  clear  duty  of  every  genuine  Christian 

121 


Westminster  Sermons 


to  "  seek  peace  and  ensue  it."  The  difficulties  which 
encounter  the  Christian  thinker  to-day  are  in  many 
respects  different  from  those  which  troubled  the  mental 
calm  of  Richard  Baxter,  and  the  solutions  of  the 
problems  of  the  spirit,  which  satisfied  him,  are  little 
likely  to  satisfy  us,  but,  in  the  sphere  of  ecclesiastical 
politics,  we  still  remain  in  the  same  dilemma.  The 
issue  which  seemed  for  the  moment  to  have  been 
decided  by  the  violence  of  the  Restoration  settlement 
with  its  appendix  of  penal  laws  remains  still,  and  we 
must  decide  it  for  ourselves.  What  shall  be  the 
foundation  of  religious  fellowship  in  the  national 
Church  ?  Shall  all  be  made  to  turn  on  the  external, 
mechanical  circumstance  of  episcopal  ordination  ?  or 
shall  it  be  the  spiritual  fact  of  discipleship  to 
Jesus  Christ  that  shall  take  the  primary  place  ? 
"  Grace  be  with  all  them  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  uncorruptness " — that  is  the  catholic  and 
fraternal  language  of  S.  Paul.  That  was  the  rule 
to  which  Richard  Baxter  strove  to  bring  himself 
and  his  contemporaries.  The  ordained  and  univers- 
ally recognised  expression  of  fraternity  is  the  act 
of  Holy  Communion.  Until  we  can  communicate 
together  at  the  Lord's  Table,  we  are,  with  respect 
to  all  our  fellow-disciples,  whose  fellowship  we  refuse, 
schismatics. 

Fraternal  language  is  futile,  even  when  it  is  sincere, 
so  long  as  it  is  united  to  an  intolerant  doctrine  and  an 
exclusive  attitude.  Those  Anglicans  must  be  held 
mainly  responsible  for  the  present  bitterness  of  religious 
strife  who — forgetful  of  the  lessons  of  our  own  history, 
and  deaf  to  the  witness  of  Christian  experience — insist 

122 


Richard  Baxter 


on  a  theory  of  the  Christian  ministry  which  makes  all  turn 
on  the  detail  whether  or  not  ministers  are  episcopally 
ordained,  and  leaves  out  of  count  the  facts  of  pastorate 
and  the  works  of  the  Spirit.  Against  that  theory 
the  life  and  character  of  Richard  Baxter  are  an 
eloquent  protest. 

Looking  back,  we  can  see  that  the  Church  of  England 
was  miserably  served  by  its  leaders  when — by  a  pro- 
cedure which  at  the  time  drove  out  from  its  parishes  a 
great  multitude  of  earnest  and  able  ministers — it  elected 
to  become  the  Church  of  only  half  the  English  people. 
The  Savoy  Conference  was  the  grave  of  the  national 
Church  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  and,  until  that 
great  and  calamitous  blunder  can  be  undone,  there  can 
never  be  religious  harmony  in  England.  Exclusion 
was  the  principle  of  the  English  bishops  at  the  Restora- 
tion. Comprehension  by  recognizing  all  legitimate 
types  of  Christian  system  was  the  principle  of  Richard 
Baxter,  whom,  to  their  eternal  dishonour,  the  English 
bishops  thrust  from  ministry  and  cast  out  from  fellow- 
ship. After  two  centuries  and  a  half,  confronted  still 
with  the  scandal  and  weakness  of  religious  division,  we 
are  in  front  of  the  same  solemn  alternative.  Exclusion 
or  comprehension,  autocracy  or  ordered  liberty,  a 
sectional  Church  claiming  to  be  catholic,  or  a  national 
Church  approving  itself  to  be  Christian, — these  are 
still  the  alternatives  before  us.  I  pray  Almighty  God 
that  the  spirit  of  tolerance  and  charity  which  illumined 
the  course  of  the  great  saint  whom  we  remember 
to-day,  may  be  poured  out  on  us  all,  that  now,  even  at 
this  late  hour,  there  may  be  opened  to  us,  English 
Churchmen  and  Nonconformists  alike,  an  escape  from 

I23 


Westminster  Sermons 

the  disabling  traditions  of  history,  and  a  return  to  the 
way  of  peace.  Even  now  may  we  be  enabled  to  learn 
what  our  divine  Master  meant  when  He  said  to  His 
disciples  : — "  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  My 
disciples  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another." 


124 


II 


THEOLOGICAL  AND 
ECCLESIASTICAL 


IX 


JESUS  OR  CHRIST?1 

JESUS  CHRIST  IS  THE  SAME  YESTERDAY  AND  TO-DAY,  YEA  AND 
FOR  EVER.  HEBREWS  xiti.  8. 

"Jesus  or  Christ  ?  "  This  strange  and  disconcerting 
question  is  often  forced  on  our  notice  at  the  present 
time,  and  it  has  a  certain  importance  as  summing  up 
shortly  a  tendency  of  religious  thought,  and  indicating 
the  nature  of  a  religious  experiment  which  is  attracting 
some  Christian  people.  Neither  the  tendency  nor  the 
experiment  is  really  new,  for  we  can  produce  parallels  and 
equivalents  of  both  from  those  distant  ages  when  first  the 
gospel  passed  under  the  criticism,  and  into  the  specu- 
lation, of  non-Christian  and  semi-Christian  thinkers ;  but 
both  have  taken  unprecedented  and  distinctive  forms 
in  our  own  time.  The  tendency  is  towards  a  repudia- 
tion of  the  unique  authority  of  the  gospel,  and  its 
absorption  into  an  eclectic  religion,  hospitable  enough 
to  admit  into  its  pantheon  every  form  of  deity.  This 
repudiation  has  perforce  taken  the  form  of  a  severance 
between  the  historic  and  the  theological  elements  of 
Christianity,  the  substitution  of  an  ideal  for  a  person. 
I  say  this  severance  has  been  necessitated,  because  the 
truly  distinctive  factor  in  Christianity  is  precisely  the 

1  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  the  24th  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  November  21,  1909. 

127 


Westminster  Sermons 

combination  of  the  historic  and  the  theological  elements; 
and  if  the  gospel  is  really  to  be  domesticated  in  the 
new  eclecticism,  it  can  only  be  by  disallowing  the 
history  from  which  it  has  sprung.  The  experiment  is 
being  made  by  an  application,  or  misapplication,  of 
historical  criticism  to  the  apostolic  testimony  enshrined 
in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  assumed  to  be  possible 
to  go  behind  the  apostolic  testimony,  and  recover  by  a 
critical  handling  of  the  gospels  another  and  a  truer 
version  of  the  history  of  Jesus,  than  that  which  the 
apostles  proclaimed  and  assumed.  The  result  of  this 
attempt  is  expressed  in  the  challenge,  "  Jesus  or 
Christ  ?  "  that  is,  history  or  faith  ;  the  facts  certified  by 
historical  science,  or  the  ideal  built  on  them  by  genera- 
tions of  believers  ?  It  is  taken  for  granted  that  the 
difference  between  history  and  faith  is  of  such  a 
character  that  the  traditional  unity  of  both  is  no  longer 
permissible  to  thoughtful  and  well-informed  men ;  and 
we  are  assured  that  the  surrender  of  the  history  as 
incompatible  with  the  faith  will  really  nowise  injure 
the  latter,  because  the  faith  is  so  well  entrenched 
in  the  respect  due  to  its  own  merits  that  nothing  can 
now  affect  its  security.  If  we  give  up  "Jesus"  in 
deference  to  the  "  New  Theologians,"  we  are  free  to 
keep  "  Christ,"  and  to  clothe  Him  with  whatsoever 
moral  excellencies  we  may  imagine  to  be  becoming. 
I  desire  to  examine  this  strange  and  far-reaching  pro- 
posal, which  is  made  to  us  with  so  great  a  parade  of 
exact  knowledge  and  high  ethical  fervour. 

Let  it  be  noted  that  this  proposal  would  not  concern 
us  here  if  it  were  advanced  only  by  those  who  made 
no  claim  to  speak  as  ministers  of  Christ ;  we  could  have 

128 


Jesus  or  Christ  ? 

no  right,  and  would  not  wish  to  hive  any,  to  put 
shackles  on  the  freedom  with  which  our  religion  is 
discussed  by  men  who  do  not  themselves  accept  it ; 
but  the  situation  is  different  when  from  within  the 
Christian  society  itself,  and  from  those  who  hold  the 
chairs  of  authority  in  the  churches,  teachings  are  put 
forward  in  the  name  of  Christ  which  seem  to  undercut 
and  disallow  the  treasured  beliefs  and  indispensable 
postulates  of  Christian  men.  I  do  not  say  that  even  the 
acutest  alarm  may  necessarily  be  well  grounded,  nor  would 
I  ever  make  novelty  as  such  the  criterion  of  religious 
error  ;  but  these  are  circumstances  which  justify,  nay 
require,  the  attention  of  all  Christian  teachers,  and 
must  explain  my  present  concern  with  the  challenge 
which  is  implicit  in  the  formula,  "  Jesus  or  Christ  ?  " 

i.  Let  me  remind  you  that  the  suggested  severance 
is  absolutely  incompatible  with  the  apostolic  witness. 
The  identification  of  Jesus  and  Christ  took  place  at  the 
very  beginning  of  Christianity.  It  is  the  obvious 
assumption  of  all  the  New  Testament  writers,  and 
almost  immediately  it  received  its  formal  expression  in 
the  double  name  which  we  have  in  the  text,  Jesus 
Christ.  If  we  inquire  what  originally  caused  that 
identification,  and  what  established  it  so  firmly  in  the 
acceptance  of  the  apostles,  we  find  the  answer  set  forth 
very  plainly  in  the  New  Testament.  They  were  led  to 
believe  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ  by  their  own  close 
intimacy  with  Him  during  His  ministry.  There  is  no 
reasonable  doubt  that  before  the  crucifixion  He  had 
claimed  to  be  the  Christ,  and  that  they  had  endorsed 
His  claim.  Jesus  Himself  had  challenged  them  on  the 
point.    "  Who  do  men  say  that  I  am  ?  "  He  had  asked 

129  1 


Westminster  Sermons 


them  in  the  way  towards  "  the  villages  of  Caesarea 
Philippi,"  and  when  they  had  replied  by  stating  the 
various  opinions  respecting  Him  which  were  current 
among  the  people,  He  had  asked  again  "  But  who  say 
ye  that  I  am  ?  "  To  that  question  Peter  had  made 
answer  in  the  tremendous  confession,  "  Thou  art  the 
Christ."1  That  was  the  first  Christian  creed,  "  I  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ."  To  separate  the  two  names, 
and  propose  a  choice  between  them,  is  to  stultify 
apostolic  witness  from  the  first. 

2.  The  "  Christ  idea  "  in  the  minds  of  the  apostles 
was  at  first,  save  in  so  far  as  their  intimate  association 
with  their  Master  had  modified  it,  quite  conventional. 
They  were  nowise  different  from  their  contemporaries, 
whose  Messianic  expectations  they  shared.  Perforce 
they  invested  their  Master  with  the  attributes  of  such  a 
Christ  as  they  had  been  trained  to  expect,  and  counted 
on  such  achievements  by  Him  as  they  had  been  taught 
to  regard  as  the  very  demonstrations  of  Christhood.2 
But  the  crucifixion  corrected  this  conventional  faith. 
At  first  it  seemed  that  their  belief  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ 
had  been  wholly  destroyed.  When  the  humiliated  and 
terror-stricken  disciples  fled  back  from  Jerusalem  to 
their  native  Galilee,  they  carried  broken  and  empty 
hearts,  and  lives  which  were  stamped  with  an  intoler- 
able and  irrecoverable  futility.  Then  happened  the 
supreme  event  which  restored  and  exalted  their  faith. 
The  Crucified  returned  to  them  from  the  grave  in  which 
they  had  laid  Him.    They  saw  Him,  and  heard  Him 

1  Vide  S.  Mark  viii.  27  ff. 

2  Cf.  S.  Matthew  xvi.  22,  xvii.  10  f.,  xix.  27,  xx.  20  ff.  ;  S.  Mark 
ix.  33  ff. 


130 


Jesus  or  Christ  ? 

wondrously.  He  claimed  them,  rebuked  their  despon- 
dency, commissioned  them  for  a  grand  ministry  of 
witness,  and  parted  from  them  with  words  of  benediction. 
This  restored  and  exalted  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ 
was  the  creature  of  the  resurrection,  and  it  at  once 
dwarfed  His  earthly  ministry  into  relative  unimportance, 
and  invested  it  with  supreme  and  eternal  significance. 
Let  me  emphasize  the  paradox.  The  living  present 
Lord,  glorious  and  militant,  absorbed  all  attention.  In 
the  fervour  of  the  great  assurance  they  went  forth, 
clothed  with  power  from  on  high,  and  "preached 
Christ."  They  had  the  demonstration  of  their  message 
in  the  central  element  of  their  preaching,  "  Christ  is 
risen."  This  was  the  summary  of  their  gospel,  "  they 
preached  Jesus  and  the  resurrection."  This  concen- 
tration of  mind  on  the  Lord  Himself  is  naturally  most 
conspicuous  in  S.  Paul,  for  he  had  no  treasure  of  holy 
recollections  such  as  the  original  apostles  possessed 
from  pre-resurrection  days.  His  own  conversion  had 
been  effected  by  an  appearance  of  the  risen  Master,  and 
his  continuous  labours  as  a  missionary  had  been  always 
holding  him  to  the  central  fact  that  Christ  was  present 
in  saving  power  with  His  Church.  The  opening  words 
of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans  exhibit  the  identification 
of  Jesus  and  Christ  in  its  full  Pauline  form,  and  indicate 
the  manner  of  the  apostle's  thinking  on  the  subject. 
The  passage  has  something  of  the  aspect  of  a  deliberate 
confession  of  faith  :  "  Paul,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ, 
called  to  be  an  apostle,  separated  unto  the  gospel  of 
God,  which  He  promised  afore  by  His  prophets  in  the 
holy  scriptures,  concerning  His  son,  who  was  born  of 
the  seed  of  David  according  to  the  flesh,  who  was 

131  1  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


declared  to  be  the  son  of  God  with  power,  according  to 
the  spirit  of  holiness  by  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ; 
even  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  through  whom  we  received 
grace  and  apostleship,  unto  obedience  of  faith  among  all 
the  nations,  for  His  name's  sake  :  among  whom  are  ye 
also,  called  to  be  Jesus  Christ's  :  to  all  that  are  in 
Rome,  beloved  of  God,  called  to  be  saints  :  grace  to 
you  and  peace  from  God  our  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  You  observe  that  the  identification  of  Jesus 
and  Christ  is  conscious,  categorical,  and  complete.  A 
doctrine  about  His  person  emerges  inevitably.  So 
much  was  necessitated  by  the  history  and  contents  of 
the  Christ  idea.  If  Jesus  were  the  Christ,  then  it 
followed  that  He  entered  into  possession  of  the  prophe- 
cies which  had  drawn  the  picture  of  the  Christ  on  the 
canvas  of  scripture.  If  this  prophetic  ideal  realized  in 
Jesus  were  to  be  correlated  with  the  fact  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, and  with  the  manifest  and  powerful  action  which 
called  and  commissioned  apostles,  and  made  their 
preaching  mighty  to  save,  then  the  prophetic  ideal 
itself  must  be  almost  indefinitely  enlarged  and  exalted. 
The  divine  dignity,  nay,  the  true  deity,  of  the  Christ, 
whom  S.  Paul  confessed  in  Jesus,  emerges  naturally  in 
his  language.  As  an  evangelist,  he  was  primarily  con- 
cerned with  preaching  the  gospel  of  salvation  in  and 
through  this  divine  and  reigning  Person ;  the  history  of 
the  private  life  and  public  teaching  of  Jesus  could  not 
take  a  principal  place  in  that  doctrine  of  "Jesus  Christ 
and  Him  crucified,"  to  which  avowedly  S.  Paul  in 
proclaiming  the  message  limited  himself,  and  by  which 
he  gathered  his  converts.  The  Gospel  was  essentially 
contained  in  those  grand  acts  of  the  redemption,  which 


132 


Jesus  or  Christ  ? 

he  enumerates  to  the  Corinthians,  and  which  bind 
Christianity  fast  for  ever  to  the  history  of  Jesus  :  "I 
delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which  also  I  received, 
how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
scriptures;  and  that  He  was  buried :  and  that  He  hath 
been  raised  on  the  third  day  according  to  the  scriptures  : 
and  that  He  appeared." 

3.  While,  however,  the  identification  of  Jesus  and 
Christ  implied  such  a  concentration  of  mind  on  His 
person,  and  on  the  supreme  acts  of  the  redemption  with 
which  His  earthly  life  closed,  and  His  risen  life  began, 
as  to  throw  into  relative  obscurity  the  details  of  His 
history,  it  manifestly  follows  that  those  details,  so  far 
from  being  really  cast  aside  as  unimportant,  were 
clothed  with  supreme  interest  and  significance.  It  is 
nothing  better  than  a  grotesque  travesty  of  the  facts  to 
say  with  a  well-known  London  minister,  writing  in  the 
recently  published  "  Hibbert  Journal  Supplement," 
that  "the  Christ  of  the  apostle  Paul  bore  little  or  no 
relation  to  the  actual  Jesus  of  Galilee,"  that  "  for  Paul 
the  earthly  ministry  of  Jesus  does  not  exist,"  that  "  all 
he  has  to  say  about  Christ  could  just  as  well  have  been 
said  under  any  other  name  than  that  of  Jesus."1  Such 
assertions  are  as  mischievous  as  they  are  grotesque. 
They  imply  the  plainly  irrational  assumption  that  the 
entire  teaching  of  the  apostle  is  to  be  found  in  the 
epistles  which  the  New  Testament  contains.  They  omit 
to  allow  for  the  knowledge  about  Jesus,  which  S.  Paul 
takes  for  granted  that  the  readers  of  those  epistles 
possess,  and  which  they  certainly  had  received  from 
himself.  Let  me  illustrate  the  argument  from  the 
1  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell's  article  in  "Jesus  or  Christ  ?  "  p.  189. 

133 


Westminster  Sermons 


undoubted  epistles  of  S.  Paul.  When  in  order  to 
persuade  the  Corinthians  to  contribute  generously  to 
the  fund  he  was  collecting  for  the  poverty-smitten 
disciples  of  Palestine,  the  apostle  says,  "  Ye  know  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that,  though  he  was 
rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  He  became  poor,"  could  the 
words  have  been  spoken  with  equal  fitness  about  one 
who  had  not  been  as  the  Son  of  man,  who  was  so  poor 
that  "  He  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head  "  ?  Is  it  not 
plain  that  the  Corinthians  knew  enough  of  the  history 
of  Jesus  to  be  able  to  appreciate  the  reference  to  His 
poverty  ?  Again,  when  in  the  same  epistle,  S.  Paul 
"  intreats "  the  Corinthians  "  by  the  meekness  and 
gentleness  of  Christ,"  could  the  appeal  have  been  made 
with  any  effect,  if  the  Corinthians  had  not  known  what 
the  gospel  narratives  have  to  tell  us  about  the  character 
of  Jesus  ?  Or,  in  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  when  he 
commends  his  appeal  for  charitable  self-suppression  in 
the  matter  of  meats,  by  the  statement,  that  "  Christ 
also  pleased  not  Himself,"  does  it  make  no  difference 
whether  the  Romans  could  fill  out  the  reference  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  Jesus,  or  not  ?  Which  is 
the  natural  supposition,  that  they  could  do  this,  and 
were  intended  to  do  so,  or  the  contrary  ?  When  S. 
Paul  bids  the  Galatians  "bear  one  another's  burdens 
and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ,"  does  not  the  admonition 
owe  most  of  its  force  to  the  fact  that  the  life  of  Jesus 
had  provided  a  supreme  example  of  such  service  ? 
Generally,  does  not  the  exhortation  to  "  imitate " 
Christ  in  conduct  imply  a  knowledge,  such  as  our 
gospels  give  us,  of  His  earthly  life  ?  Does  not  S.  Paul's 
practice  of  quoting  specific  commandments  of  the  Lord 

x34 


Jesus  or  Christ  ? 

as  finally  determining  practical  questions,  such  as  those 
connected  with  marriage,1  and  with  the  maintenance  of 
the  ministry,2  imply  on  his  part  the  highest  possible 
estimate  of  the  history  of  Jesus,  and  on  the  part  of  his 
readers  a  recognition  of  that  history  as  forming,  so  far 
as  it  went,  a  supremely  authoritative  revelation  of 
Christ's  mind  ?  Finally,  if  with  some  eminent  critics 
of  our  own  time,3  we  may  endorse  the  immemorial 
belief  of  Christendom  with  respect  to  the  authorship  of 
the  third  gospel,  we  can  be  in  no  possible  doubt  that 
the  synoptic  tradition  of  the  Master's  life,  which  S. 
Paul's  "  beloved  physician  "  compiled,  was  familiar  to 
the  apostle,  and  underlies  his  references  to  Jesus. 

4.  Having  postulated  this  groundless  and  quite 
improbable  indifference  of  S.  Paul  to  the  history  of 
Jesus,  the  writer  I  have  quoted  proceeds  to  describe 
the  history  itself  as  having  no  religious  importance.  It 
does  not  matter,  according  to  him,  whether  the  narra- 
tives of  the  New  Testament  are  or  are  not  true.  He  is 
even  indifferent  to  the  verdict  they  render  as  to  the 
character  of  Him  whom  Christendom  has  ever 
worshipped  as  the  incarnate  Son  of  God.  He  allows, 
indeed,  that  "  the  being  who  could  inspire  others  with 
a  faith  in  God  which  issued  in  such  a  consistent  effort 
to  live  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  must  have  been 
extraordinary  "  ;  but  immediately  adds  the  terrible  and 
profane  assertion  that  He  also  was  a  sinner  as  the  rest. 
Forgive  me  for  inflicting  on  you  the  pain  of  listening 
to  language  so  strange  and  so  repulsive  on  the  lips  of  a 

1  1  Cor.  vii.  10. 

2  1  Cor.  ix.  14,  cf.  1  Tim.  v.  18,  Acts  xx.  35. 

3  E.g.,  Harnack  and  Ramsay. 


135 


Westminster  Sermons 


Christian  minister.  "  To  speak  of  Him  as  morally 
perfect  is  absurd;  to  call  Him  sinless  is  worse,  for  it 
introduces  an  entirely  false  emphasis  into  the  relations 
of  God  and  man."  I  cannot  pretend  to  understand 
what  is  here  meant;  but  there  is  no  ambiguity  about 
the  main  statement.  The  so-called  "new  theology" 
is  declared  by  its  principal  exponent  to  imply  the 
sinfulness  of  Jesus. 

Be  it  observed  that  in  this  teaching  the  "  new 
theology  "  contradicts  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the 
apostles.  Even  Schmiedel  admits  that  "  as  far  as 
Jesus  is  concerned  it  is  certain  that  all  the  writers  of 
the  New  Testament  assumed  His  sinlessness."  1  Since 
Christ,  the  object  of  Christian  worship,  is  thus  sharply 
parted  from  the  Jesus  of  the  gospels,  we  perforce 
inquire  what  precisely  we  are  to  understand  that  we 
worship,  when  we,  following  the  immemorial,  con- 
tinuous, and  universal  practice  of  the  Church,  offer 
prayers  to  Jesus  Christ.  We  cannot  pray  to  a  fellow- 
sinner  ;  it  seems  ridiculous  to  pray  to  a  personified 
ideal  which  we  have  fashioned  for  ourselves.  "  I  main- 
tain," writes  Schmiedel  candidly,  "  a  clear  distinction 
between  the  term  '  Jesus '  and  '  Christ  '  in  my  own 
practice,  and  demand  that  it  shall  be  maintained  in  the 
intercourse  of  theologians  with  one  another  ;  at  the 
same  time  we  cannot  count  on  laymen  understanding 
the  distinction  and  themselves  observing  it."  2  Laymen 
will  not  stand  alone  in  their  inability  to  accept  the  dis- 
tinction. "  If  Jesus  was  not  God,"  wrote  Bishop 
Creighton  shortly  and  clearly,  "  Christianity  is  not  a 

1  Vide  "  Jesus  or  Christ  ?  "  p.  68. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  76. 

136 


Jesus  or  Christ  ? 

religion,  but  a  contribution  to  moral  philosophy.  But 
mankind  wants  a  religion,  and  it  is  as  a  religion  that 
Christianity  works  in  the  world."  1  Schmiedel  carries 
his  complaisance  for  the  layman  so  far  as  to  suggest  a 
form  of  prayer  which  might  be  addressed  to  this  Jesus, 
whom  he  has  severed  from  Christ. 

"  As  to  the  special  question  of  prayer  to  Jesus,  it  would  perhaps 
be  not  impracticable  that  prayers  which,  to  a  deeper  insight,  ought 
to  be  addressed  only  to  God,  should  be  laid  aside  by  a  process  of 
replacing  them  with  others  which  no  one  feels  reluctance  in 
addressing  to  Jesus.  Their  content  might  be  somewhat  as 
follows  :  '  Be  Thou  my  guiding  star ;  let  Thy  image  stand  ever 
before  mine  eyes  ;  rule  my  heart ;  make  me  Thy  disciple.'  V2 

This  is  a  singular  formulary,  and  it  is  addressed  to 
a  singular  object  of  worship.  I  do  not  think  it  is  likely 
to  replace  the  ancient  forms  of  Christian  prayer  : 
"  O  Lamb  of  God,  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the 
world,  have  mercy  upon  us.  O  Lamb  of  God,  that 
takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  grant  us  Thy 
peace." 

5.  A  few  days  ago  there  was  published  the  prayer 
which  was  actually  used  on  November  4  in  the  City 
Temple,  and  addressed  to  one  who  is  evidently  identified 
with  the  historic  Jesus.  In  many  respects  it  is  a 
significant  prayer,  and  deserves  consideration  by 
thoughtful  Christians,  who  would  discover  whereto 
this  "  new  theology "  is  tending.  Let  me  read  it 
to  you3 : — 

"  O  Lord  Christ,  long  as  it  is  since  Thou  didst  first  speak  on 
earth  and  in  the  flesh  to  humble  toilers  on  the  hillsides  of  Galilee, 

1  Vide  "  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  256. 
*  Vide  ibid.,  p.  79. 

5  Vide  The  Christian  Commonwealth,  November  10,  1909. 

137 


Westminster  Sermons 


the  toilers  have  not  ceased  to  think  about  Thee,  and  the  world  can 
never  again  be  as  though  Thou  hadst  not  been.  Men  and  women, 
weak  and  weary  ones,  sorrowful  and  sinful,  have  somehow  learned 
to  invoke  Thee,  to  think  Thou  canst  do  great  things  on  their 
behalf.  If  they  have  been  mistaken  it  is  a  sad  mistake,  and  the 
world  is  the  poorer  for  having  made  it,  the  richer  for  having  thought 
that  Thou  wast  throned  in  heaven.  But  there  has  been  no  mistake ; 
we  feel,  we  know,  that  what  Thou  art  ought  to  be  enthroned  at  the 
heart  of  things,  and  we  come  to  Thee,  the  One  who  ought  to  be 
enthroned,  and  therefore  is  ;  all  the  best  instincts  of  our  nature  tell 
us  so,  and  we  ask  Thee  to  help  us.  We  are  trying  to  fight  the 
battle  Thou  hast  fought ;  we  are  trying  to  win  the  victory  Thou 
hast  won.  We  have  not'fought  so  well,  and  we  have  not  won  yet, 
and  we  pray  to  Thee  to  help  us  here  amid  the  darkness  and  the 
ignorance  and  the  sorrow  and  the  difficulty  and  the  dangers  of 
earth  ;  help  us  that  we  may  attain  as  Thou  hast  attained,  and  come 
home  to  what  Thou  art.  We  ask  it  for  the  sake  of  the  love  of  God 
made  manifest  in  man.  Amen." 

Now  this  is  mostly  a  soliloquy,  rather  than  a  prayer. 
The  reference  to  "  the  hillsides  of  Galilee  "  compels  us 
to  suppose  that  it  is  addressed  to  the  historic  Jesus, 
that  is,  to  the  very  Person,  whom  the  author  of  this 
prayer  has  told  us  bluntly  it  is  absurd  to  regard  as 
either  morally  perfect  or  sinless.  In  that  case,  what  can 
the  prayer  mean,  and  what  can  it  be  supposed  to  effect  ? 
On  the  kindest  estimate  is  it  more  than  a  pietistic 
rhapsody  which  does  equal  credit  to  the  heart,  and 
violence  to  the  reason,  of  the  rhapsodist  ?  If,  indeed, 
our  only  security  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian  revela- 
tion of  "  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven  "  is  our  con- 
viction that  what  ought  to  be  therefore  is,  where  are  we 
better  off  than  those  pre-Christian  saints  who  hoped 
against  hope  for  the  victory  of  good  ?  Experience  is 
against  us.  Nature  is  against  us.  Our  theory  compels 
us  to  hold  that  not  even  in  Jesus  did  the  iron  empire  of 
evil  and  death  fail  of  its  triumph.    Were  it  not  better 

138 


Jesus  or  Christ  ? 

to  face  the  terrible  issue  like  men,  and  admit  with 
S.  Paul  that  "  if  Christ  hath  not  been  raised,  our 
faith  is  vain  :  we  are  yet  in  our  sins  "  ?  Contrast  this 
prayer  of  the  "  new  theologian  "  with  the  prayer  with 
which  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  concludes :  "  Now 
the  God  of  peace,  who  brought  again  from  the  dead  the 
great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep  with  the  blood  of  the 
eternal  covenant,  even  the  Lord  Jesus,  make  you  per- 
fect in  every  good  thing  to  do  His  will,  working  in  us 
that  which  is  well-pleasing  in  His  sight,  through  Jesus 
Christ :  to  whom  be  the  glory  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen."  There  is  strength  and  divine  assurance,  and 
strong  reasonableness  in  that  prayer,  and  it  rises  to 
heaven  on  the  wings  of  that  faith  of  apostles  and  saints 
which  hath  overcome  the  world,  even  the  faith  "  that 
Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God." 

6.  "  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day, 
yea,  and  for  ever."  These  are  not  the  words  of  a 
bigoted  opponent  of  salutary  change.  They  are  not 
the  great  formula  which  is  to  disguise  the  little  policy 
of  mere  obscurantism.  The  author  of  the  epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  must  have  sustained  among  his  brethren 
the  difficult  and  suspected  rule  of  a  religious  innovator. 
He  was  the  author  and  advocate  of  a  new  theology. 
All  this  adds  immensely  to  the  significance  of  his 
declaration.  He  lays  hold  of  the  fixed  factor  in 
Christianity,  that  which  is  the  indispensable  postulate 
of  every  sound  theology,  and  the  verifying  element  in 
all  theologies ;  and  he  offers  it  as  the  justification  of  his 
novel  teaching,  and  the  palladium  of  Christian  faith. 
The  temple,  he  tells  his  Jewish  fellow  disciples,  will 
perish  :  all  that  the  temple  symbolizes  and  enables  will 


139 


Westminster  Sermons 


pass  away  :  Jerusalem  will  be  desolate,  and  the  religion 
of  national  privilege,  which  has  found  its  centre  there, 
will  come  to  an  end  ;  but  this  immense  demolition  of 
sacred  institutions  and  time-honoured  traditions  will  not 
touch  the  core  of  your  faith,  nay,  it  will  enable  you  to 
realize  more  truly  what  that  core  of  your  faith  really  is. 
You  will  find  that  the  springs  of  spiritual  life  are  in  no 
system,  but  in  the  person  of  the  Lord,  in  whom  every 
system  must  find  meaning,  apart  from  whom  all  systems 
are  nothing.  "  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday  and 
to-day,  yea,  and  for  ever."  In  Him  Judaism  has  found 
its  meaning  and  lost  its  authority,  and  reached  its  term. 
You  must  see  Him  henceforward  in  larger  connections, 
and  apply  His  teaching  to  new  conditions. 

7.  After  more  than  eighteen  centuries  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  confronted  by  another  crisis,  different  and  yet 
similar.  The  same  Christian  teacher's  words  are  again 
on  our  lips,  but  richly  freighted  with  the  confirmations 
of  Christian  experience,  and  we  would  find  in  them  the 
courage  to  innovate,  as  well  as  the  obligation  to  hold  fast. 
We,  like  the  Jewish  believers  of  the  second  generation, 
who  witnessed  the  downfall  of  the  Jewish  polity,  must 
have  a  "  new  theology  "  in  order  that  we  may  gather  up 
into  our  faith  the  lessons  of  experience  and  the  garnered 
fruits  of  human  progress.  Our  clear  perception  of  this 
necessity,  and  our  frank  acknowledgment  of  it,  must  not 
blind  us  to  the  essential  condition  of  every  change, 
which  shall  be  progress  and  not  retrogression.  May  we 
not  still  serve  ourselves  of  the  language  of  the  New 
Testament  in  order  to  formulate  that  indispensable 
condition,  which  is  to  be  for  us,  as  for  every  previous 
generation  of  believers,  the  criterion  of  all  theologies 

140 


Jesus  or  Christ  ? 

which  claim  our  acceptance  ?    "  Hereby  know  ye  the 
Spirit  of  God  :  every  spirit  which  confesseth  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of  God ;  and  every  spirit 
which  confesseth  not  Jesus  is  not  of  God."    Does  the 
"  new  theology  "  bring  the  Saviour  more  effectively  into 
the  thought  and  life  of  our  time  ?  or  does  it,  with  what- 
ever words  of  calculated   compliment,   banish  Him 
farther  from  both  ?     Is  the  new  way  of  describing 
Jesus  Christ  better  able  to  set  Him  as  Saviour  and  as 
judge  before  the  sin-stricken  society  of  our  knowledge  ? 
Does  the  new  reading  of  His  life,  and  the  new  interpre- 
tation of  His  message,  help  men  the  better  to  perceive 
and  to  acknowledge  His  lordship?    Does  the  "new 
theology  "  make  more  or  less  of  Jesus  Christ  than  the 
old  ?    Nay,  the  words  were  ill-chosen  ;  there  can  be  no 
less  or  more,  for  He  is  supreme  ;  but  is  His  supremacy 
vindicated  and  owned  over  a  larger  area  of  human  life  ? 
As  our  science  grows,  and  our  experience  multiplies 
problems  and  unfolds  opportunities,  is  "  the  proportion 
of  the  faith  "  maintained,  and  Jesus  Christ  shown  in  an 
ever-changing  world  to  be  "the  same  yesterday  and 
to-day,  yea,  and  for  ever"?    These  are  the  questions 
which  every  theology  must  answer  before  it  can  justify 
its  name,  or  warrant  Christians  in  accepting  it.  Pour 
what  meanings  you  will,  and  must,  into  the  disciple's 
profession,  nothing  can  ever  authorize  any  tampering 
with  the  profession  itself :  "  If  thou  shalt  confess  with 
thy  mouth  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  shalt  believe  in  thy  heart 
that  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be 
saved." 

But  a  so-called  "  new  theology"  which  proposes  the 
impossible  alternative,  Jesus  or  Christ  ?   and  calmly 

141 


Westminster  Sermons 

accepts  the  blasphemous  postulate  of  the  Saviour's 
sinfulness,  is  not  Christian  theology  at  all,  and  needs  no 
other  arguments  to  determine  its  prompt  and  indignant 
repudiation  at  the  hands  of  Christian  men.  "  We  have 
not  so  learned  Christ." 


142 


X 


OLD  RELIGION  AND  NEW  THEOLOGY  1 

I  EXHORTED  THEE  TO  TARRY  AT  EPHESUS,  WHEN  I  WAS  GOING 
INTO  MACEDONIA,  THAT  THOU  MIGHTEST  CHARGE  CERTAIN  MEN 
NOT  TO  TEACH  A  DIFFERENT  DOCTRINE. —  I   TIMOTHY  i.  3. 

I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  critical  questions 
which  have  been  raised  in  connection  with  the  author- 
ship and  date  of  the  pastoral  epistles.  Probably 
opinion  will  always  be  divided  on  those  subjects,  and 
in  face  of  that  circumstance  the  candid  preacher  will 
never  be  able  to  use  without  explanation  and  reserve 
the  testimony  of  these  important  and  suggestive  writings. 
On  the  present  occasion,  however,  I  avail  myself  of  the 
language  of  the  first  pastoral  epistle  in  order  to  place 
before  you  a  situation  which  has  been  often  presented 
in  the  course  of  Christian  history,  which  was  presented 
notably  at  the  close  of  the  apostolic  age,  and  is 
notoriously  being  presented  at  the  present  time. 
Believers  have  been  confronted  with  the  perplexing  fact 
of  doctrinal  innovation  ;  they  have  heard  from  their 
religious  leaders  strange  teachings,  which  they  cannot 
correlate  with  the  truth  which  they  have  received ; 
they  are  called  upon  to  revise  their  beliefs,  and  accept, 
often  at  very  short  notice,  a  "  new  theology,"  and  very 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  the  20th  Sunday 
after  Trinity,  October  24,  1909. 


H3 


Westminster  Sermons 


naturally  they  are  disturbed  in  their  minds,  and 
shadowed  by  a  grave  fear  lest  the  very  bases  of  faith 
are  giving  way.  It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  offer 
evidences  that  this  situation  now  exists,  for  I  can  take 
you  all  to  witness  that  such  is  indeed  the  case. 

i.  Let  me  observe  that  there  is  nothing  necessarily 
alarming  in  a  "  new  theology."  Every  living  theology 
must  needs  be  new,  for  theology  is  the  synthesis  of  two 
factors,  one  invariable  and  the  other  perpetually  varying, 
and  naturally  the  changes  in  the  latter  have  their  effect 
on  the  combination  of  both.  The  unalterable  factor 
is  called  in  the  New  Testament  the  "  gospel,"  "  the 
faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints,"  "  the  sound 
doctrine,"  "  the  doctrine  which  is  according  to 
righteousness,"  "the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."  It  is 
grandly  summarized  in  its  source  and  essence  by  the 
author  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  when  he  declares 
that  "  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day, 
yea,  and  for  ever."  The  changing  factor  is  the  sum  of 
human  knowledge,  with  which  this  Gospel  of  an 
unchanging  Christ  has  to  be  harmonized.  Intelligent 
Chrr  stians  carfn  accluiesce  in  mental  chaos,  and  to  such 
mr  -'st  their  faith'r*n£  them  until  it  has  become  expressed 
ln  a  theology,  "rom  this  indispensable  expression  of 
faith  as  the-b.y  emerges  a  formidable  peril  to  faith. 
For  a  -aisfyin^r  theology,  having  once  been  secured, 
ieadily  acquires  -an  authority  of  its  own,  to  which  it  has 
no  proper  title.  Religious  men  unconsciously  transfer 
to  it  the  sacred  a  ttributes  of  the  gospel,  and  resent  any 
criticism  of  it  as  i  f  such  criticism  profaned  the  arcana 
of  faith.  Yet  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the 
theology  of  the  Christian  Church  is  in  perpetual  flux, 


144 


Old  Religion  and  New  Theology 

in  spite  of  the  natural  reluctance  of  devout  Christians 
to  admit  the  fact,  and,  we  must  add,  in  spite  of  the 
tremendous  and  violent  efforts  made  by  ecclesiastical 
authorities  to  avoid  theological  innovation.  A  retro- 
spect of  Christian  experience  is  the  best  prophylactic 
against  the  fears  of  an  irrational  conservatism  and  the 
infection  of  fanaticism. 

2.  Let  us  remember,  moreover,  that  it  is  mere  matter 
of  fact  that  Christianity  has  for  long  periods  been 
gravely  misconceived  by  its  professors.  Doctrines  that 
all  Christians  are  now  agreed  to  reject  have  been  in 
previous  ages  of  the  Church  tenaciously  held,  and,  if 
extent  and  duration  of  belief  were  the  tests  of  intrinsic 
importance,  we  should  have  to  conclude  that  these  may 
be  pleaded  as  easily  in  the  interest  of  recognized  error 
as  in  that  of  recognized  truth.  In  every  age  there  are 
specific  parts  of  the  Christian  system  which,  for  quite 
intelligible  reasons,  draw  to  themselves  the  principal 
attention  of  Christian  men,  and,  then,  inevitably  these 
are  exalted  to  a  position  of  superiority  which  by  no 
means  rightly  belongs  to  them,  and  which  can  be  shown 
to  reflect  the  special  circumstances  of  the  Church  at 
the  time,  rather  than  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  para- 
mount dogmas  themselves.  Thus  we  may  say  that  in 
times  of  secular  distress,  persecution,  and  calamity 
there  has  been  a  disposition  to  fasten  on  the  eschato- 
logical  elements  of  the  Christian  tradition.  The  afflicted 
Church  of  the  earliest  ages,  for  instance,  was  readily 
disposed  to  an  over-confident  dogmatism  with  respect 
to  the  second  advent  of  Christ :  the  vast  dogmatic 
system  of  the  Western  Church,  which  deals  with  the 
fortunes  of  the  human  spirit  after  its  departure  from  the 

H5  k 


Westminster  Sermons 

body,  was  developed  in  the  most  troubled  period  of  the 
middle  ages.  The  Apocalypse,  which  has  been  the 
common  source  from  which  the  materials  of  eschato- 
logical  speculation  have  most  freely  been  drawn,  may 
almost  be  regarded  as  an  indicator  of  ecclesiastical 
affliction.  When  that  book  has  been  most  precious  in 
Christian  eyes,  and  most  often  on  Christian  lips,  we 
may  be  sure  that  the  worldly  circumstances  of  Christian 
folk  were  unusually  depressing.  The  intellectual  level 
of  an  age  reflects  itself  in  the  religious  sj'stem.  Thus 
the  barbarous  epoch  of  Christian  experience  coincided 
with  the  development  of  materialistic  sacramentalism. 
The  higher,  more  spiritual  aspects  of  Christianity  were 
beyond  the  apprehension  of  men  who  had  but  just 
emerged  from  the  debased  beliefs  and  practices  of 
paganism,  and,  accordingly,  the  missionaries  of  the 
gospel  were  under  the  strongest  inducements  to  press 
on  them  those  more  intelligible  elements  of  the  Christian 
system,  which,  just  because  they  were  the  most  intelli- 
gible to  barbarians,  were  shown  to  be  the  least  exalted. 
Transubstantiation,  and  the  necessity  of  sacerdotal 
absolution,  were  formally  bound  upon  the  Western 
Church  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  the  Papal  legisla- 
tion of  that  period  only  expressed,  and  gave  formal 
recognition  to,  ideas  and  practices  which  were  already 
of  long  standing.  We  might  illustrate  our  thesis  by 
many  other  examples,  but  there  is  no  need,  for  the  fact 
admits  of  no  serious  dispute.  It  is  a  mere  truism  that 
the  "centre  of  gravity  "  in  current  Christianity  is  con- 
stantly shifting,  and  that  the  principal  agent  in  the 
process  at  any  given  time  is  the  pressure  of  external 
circumstances. 

146 


Old  Religion  and  New  Theology 

3.  It  is,  then,  very  evident  that  theology  is  properly 
mutable,  and  never  "continues  in  one  stay."  There 
is,  of  course,  as  we  shall  see  immediately,  an  unalterable 
core  of  truth,  which  forms  the  subject-matter  of 
theological  speculation,  and  which,  however  variously 
handled,  remains  essential  to  the  religion,  of  which 
indeed  it  is  the  very  principle  of  life;  but  that  unchanging 
truth  is  patient  of  many  presentments,  and  subject  to 
almost  infinite  misunderstanding.  The  paradox  is  as 
certain  as  at  first  sight  it  is  dismaying — the  theological 
truth  of  one  age  may  be,  and  often  is,  the  theological 
error  of  another.  The  reason  is  twofold.  On  the  one 
hand,  theologians  may  have  misconceived  the  primitive 
revelation  ;  on  the  other  hand,  they  may  have  conceived 
it  rightly  but  in  limited  and  therefore  false  connections. 
Their  knowledge  was  too  slight  to  admit  of  any  better 
statement  than  they  offered  ;  and,  in  point  of  fact,  the 
orthodoxy  they  defended  was  for  them  and  their  con- 
temporaries the  truest  version  of  Christianity  within 
their  reach.  As  knowledge  accumulated,  however,  the 
theological  definitions  became  defective  ;  they  were  no 
longer  properly  adjusted  to  the  facts  which  had  to  be 
reckoned  with  ;  and,  being  thus  inevitably  obsolete,  they 
became  for  later  ages  actually  and  increasingly  false. 
Theology,  then,  is  never  more  than  a  provisional  corre- 
lation of  Christian  truth  with  the  rest  of  human  know- 
ledge. That  Christian  truth,  being  a  divine  revelation 
made  once  for  all  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  is 
unchanging,  but  there  is  an  infinite  possibility  of  change 
in  the  human  knowledge  with  which  it  must  from  time 
to  time  be  correlated ;  and  the  theological  statement, 
in   which    the   correlation   is   expressed,   will  vary 

147  K  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


accordingly  from  age  to  age.  Indeed  it  is  strictly  true 
to  say  that  a  theological  statement  begins  to  become 
obsolete  almost  as  soon  as  it  has  been  formulated  :  for 
it,  like  an  Act  of  Parliament,  sums  up  and  marks  the 
triumph  of  a  movement  of  opinion,  which  begins  at 
once,  almost  with  the  regularity  of  the  tides,  to  recede 
from  its  "  high-water  mark."  The  process  in  the  one 
case  is  much  slower  than  in  the  other,  but  there  is  a 
true  parallelism.  We  may,  therefore,  nay  we  must, 
acquiesce  in  a  continual  succession  of  "  new  theologies  "  ; 
and  nothing  can  really  be  concluded  against  any 
specific  version  of  Christianity  merely  on  the  ground  of 
novelty. 

4.  It  is  not,  perhaps,  superfluous  to  point  out  that 
in  claiming  this  freedom  of  continuous  self-rectification, 
we  do  but  place  theology  on  a  level  with  the  rest  of 
the  sciences.  If  scientific  men  justly  resent  gibes 
against  the  natural  sciences  based  on  the  rapidity  with 
which  theories  rise  and  fall  within  the  scientific  area ; 
if  they  justly  insist  on  the  properly  progressive  character 
of  studies  which  are  continually  increasing  their 
materials,  it  would  seem  to  be  sufficiently  clear  that  they 
are  bound  in  equity  to  concede  an  equal  liberty  to  the 
theologians,  who  can  plead  the  same  excuse  for  their 
variations.  All  the  sciences  have  their  postulates, 
which  are  unalterable,  and  theology  is  no  exception  : 
but  all  have  to  apply  those  postulates  in  ever-varying 
circumstances,  with  reference  to  an  ever-enlarging 
accumulation  of  knowledge,  and  again  theology  is  no 
exception.  A  familiar  example  will  be  the  Christian 
doctrine  with  respect  to  the  creation  of  the  universe. 
The  opening  chapters  of  Genesis  were  held  by  theo- 

148 


Old  Religion  and  New  Theology 

logians  right  down  to  the  precincts  of  the  last  generation 
to  provide  an  accurate  and  detailed  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  universe.  There  was  no  serious  rival  to 
that  account ;  there  were  no  facts  ascertained  by  men 
of  science  and  cognizable  by  the  theologians  which 
invalidated  the  accepted  doctrine  of  the  Church  :  the 
wisest  and  most  learned  of  Christians  could  offer  no 
serious  objection  to  the  statements  of  the  Bible.  Then, 
as  we  all  know,  came  the  rapid  development  of  the 
physical  sciences.  Astronomy  led  the  way,  geology 
followed  next,  biology  came  last  and  went  farthest ; 
and  men  became  conscious  of  an  immense  discrepancy 
between  the  current  doctrine  and  the  new  knowledge. 
We  all  know  what  happened.  A  panic  seized  religious 
minds ;  devout  men  spoke  longingly  of  a  past  when 
none  doubted,  and  scornfully,  though  with  manifest 
fear,  of  a  present  when  every  advance  in  knowledge 
seemed  to  multiply  doubts.  Browning  has  drawn 
his  description  from  life  when  he  puts  into  the  mouth 
of  his  cynical  Bishop  Blougram  the  gibe  against 
believers : — 

"You'll  say,  once  all  believed,  man,  woman,  child, 
In  that  dear  middle-a^e  these  noodles  praise. 
How  you'd  exult  if  I  could  put  you  back 
Six  hundred  years,  blot  out  cosmogony, 
Geology,  ethnology,  what  not 
(Greek  endings,  each  the  little  passing-bell 
That  signifies  some  faith's  about  to  die) 
And  set  you  square  with  Genesis  again  !  " 

That  precipitate  and  involuntary  repugnance  of 
believers  to  the  rude  shaking  of  their  traditional  theo- 
logy by  facts,  which  were  incompatible  with  it,  was 
very  regrettable.     The  men  of  science  were  looked 


149 


Westminster  Sermons 


upon  and  treated  as  enemies  of  revealed  truth,  and 
many  a  shameful  chapter  of  persecution,  which  we 
would  give  much  to  tear  out  of  the  record  of  the 
Church,  was  added  to  the  history  of  mankind;  but  as 
time  went  on,  and  the  martyrs  of  science  drew  in  their 
train  an  ever-multiplying  body  of  enthusiastic  disciples, 
who  pursued  the  same  course,  and  built  on  ever  securer 
foundations  the  fabric  of  scientific  truth,  a  change 
passed  over  Christian  minds.  The  epoch  of  persecu- 
tion was  succeeded  by  the  epoch  of  arbitrary  recon- 
ciliation. Theology  was  in  a  transitional  state,  per- 
plexed between  the  clear  statements  of  the  Book  of 
Genesis  and  the  equally  clear  and  much  better  authen- 
ticated statements  of  the  men  of  science,  conscious  of 
her  proper  task  not  to  repudiate  knowledge,  but  to 
correlate  it  with  her  own  first  principles,  pledged 
to  bring  into  her  scheme  of  truth  all  that  could  fairly 
be  gathered  under  that  description.  The  curious,  most 
ingenious,  most  well-intentioned,  but,  we  must  add, 
most  futile,  and  in  many  directions,  mischievous, 
literature  of  the  Biblical  harmonizers  came  into  exist- 
ence and  attained  an  immense  bulk.  Obviously  this 
situation  could  not  be  permanent.  The  harmonists 
neither  satisfied  the  old  orthodoxy  nor  the  new  science. 
What  was  needed  was  a  "  new  theology,"  which  should 
frankly  surrender  so  much  of  the  former  as  was  necessary 
in  order  frankly  to  accept  the  latter. 

5.  Now,  if  I  may  assume  your  provisional  agreement 
so  far,  I  may  ask  you  seriously  to  consider  the  question 
which  immediately  confronts  us,  and  that  with  special 
urgency,  since,  as  I  have  already  postulated,  we  are 
ourselves  passing  through  a  religious  crisis  of  grave 

150 


Old  Religion  and  New  Theology 

and  far-reaching  significance.  What  is  the  unchanging 
core  of  Christianity,  which  is  capable  of  correlation 
with  all  truth  as  it  is  gradually  manifested  to  mankind, 
and  which  will  only  find  final  expression  in  a  perfect 
theology  when  the  stage  of  progress  in  knowledge 
merges  into  a  stage  of  complete  understanding,  and 
when,  to  adopt  the  phrase  of  S.  Paul,  "  we  know  even 
as  we  have  been  known  "  ?  What  is  the  postulate  of  all 
the  theologies  that  have  been,  are,  and  shall  be  in  the 
Christian  Church  ?  What  is  it  that  constitutes  Chris- 
tianity a  religion,  nay,  the  religion  of  humanity,  which 
is  tacitly  assumed  whenever  the  preacher  mounts  the 
pulpit,  and  the  missionary  goes  forth  to  his  work  ? 
What  is  it  that  permits  us  to  speak  still  in  the  old, 
firm  language  of  apostles  and  saints,  to  utter  our  faith 
in  the  time-honoured  confessions  of  the  past,  to  read 
it  into  the  language  of  long  obsolete  theologies,  to 
know  ourselves  to  be  linked  in  unity  of  belief  and 
worship  with  all  generations  of  Christians  ?  To  find 
the  answer  to  these  questions  is  to  have  discovered  the 
criterion  of  legitimate  theological  change  and  the  test 
of  heresies. 

6.  It  will  not  escape  you  that  part  of  the  answer  must 
be  furnished  by  the  experience  of  the  Church.  I  have 
appealed  to  that  experience  in  order  to  justify  the 
proposition  that  theologies  are  always  new,  because  if 
they  are  not  new,  they  are  obsolescent,  or  obsolete,  or 
dead  ;  and  I  appeal  to  the  same  tribunal  for  a  judgment 
on  this  question  also.  What  does  Christian  history 
clearly  indicate  as  unchanging  in  the  whole  course  of 
theological  development  ?  Stand  where  you  will  in  the 
sequences  of  the  centuries  since  the  faith  of  Christ  was 

151 


Westminster  Sermons 


proclaimed  on  the  earth,  and  what  is  that  factor  which 
will  guarantee  the  identity  of  Christianity  ?  What  runs 
like  a  golden  thread  through  these  tracts  of  time  ?  Let 
me  set  aside  at  once  as  quite  insufficient  any  merely 
mechanical  continuity  of  institution  or  of  formula. 
Stillingfleet's  accusation  against  Roman  Catholics 
that  "  though  they  innovated  things  never  so  much,  yet 
it  hath  been  always  the  policy  of  that  Church  not  to 
innovate  names  that  so  the  incautelous  might  be 
better  deceived  with  a  pretence  of  antiquity"1  is  not 
without  relevance  in  the  case  of  other  Christians, 
and  certainly,  when  the  object  in  view  is  not  a 
cheap  controversial  success,  but  the  satisfaction  of 
a  solemn  and  indispensable  religious  demand,  we 
cannot  allow  ourselves  to  be  cheated  by  words.  We 
must  go  behind  words  to  their  meanings,  and  satisfy  no 
less  severe  critic  than  our  own  understanding.  With 
this  caution,  then,  I  should  make  answer  to  the  question 
we  have  propounded  without  hesitation.  The  unchang- 
ing factor  in  Christianity  has  been  an  attitude  towards 
Jesus  Christ,  and,  as  implicit  therein,  such  a  belief  as 
permits  that  attitude.  No  Christian  at  any  time,  in  the 
rudest  society  of  the  middle  age  and  in  the  most  cultured 
modern  Church,  has  ever  felt  any  real  difficulty  in 
understanding,  and  so  far  as  his  intelligence  and 
sincerity  permitted,  making  his  own  the  declaration 
of  S.  Paul,  "  Far  be  it  from  me  to  glory,  save  in  the 
cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  through  which  the  world 
hath  been  crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world." 
The  practical  bearings  of  that  confession  have  not 


1  Vide  "  Irenicum,"  p.  238. 
152 


Old  Religion  and  New  Theology 

always  been  the  same.  To  the  ascetic  of  the  Thebaid, 
or  the  altruistic  mendicant  of  mediaeval  Italy,  the 
practical  content  of  his  personal  creed  differed  widely 
from  that  of  the  persecuted  Huguenot  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  or  the  devout  Anglican  of  the  nineteenth,  but 
the  spiritual  attitude  expressed  was  identical.  Though 
the  Christian  theologies  have  been  many,  the  Christian 
faith  has  been  one.  All  Christians  would  have  united 
in  worshipping  Christ,  and  none  would  have  endured  a 
theology  which  was  incompatible  with  such  worship. 
Set  them  down  to  write  out  what  they  regarded  as  the 
indispensable  credenda,  and  you  would  obtain  a  pitiful 
spectacle  of  difference,  but  reduce  the  varying  state- 
ments to  this  single  point,  the  attitude  they  imply 
towards  the  Founder,  and  the  belief  with  respect  to 
Him,  and  you  will  find  a  solid  agreement.  At  the  close 
of  a  sermon,  I  cannot  develop  this  aspect  of  our  theme, 
but  I  beg  you  to  reflect  on  it.  The  Christian  Church, 
weary  of  controversies  and  no  longer  able  to  sustain  her 
traditional  theology  in  many  directions,  can  make  her 
own  the  apostle's  declaration,  and  find  as  he  did  con- 
solation in  the  fact :  "  From  henceforth  let  no  man 
trouble  me,  for  I  bear  branded  on  my  body  the  marks 
of  Jesus." 

7.  S.  Paul,  we  may  not  forget,  passed  among  his 
contemporaries  as  the  author  of  a  "  new  theology,"  and 
on  that  account  suffered  much  at  their  hands.  The 
circumstance  adds  to  the  solemnity  of  his  warning 
against  that  "different  doctrine,"  which  the  heretics 
of  Ephesus  were  teaching.  None  knew  better  than  the 
great  apostle  where  the  unfailing  strength  of  the 
Christian  religion  was  stored :  none  welcomed  more 

153 


Westminster  Sermons 


eagerly  the  teachings  of  experience.    He  transformed 
the  theology  of  the  Church,  and  withal  stood  like  a  rock 
against  every  teaching  which  impinged  on  the  central 
verity  of  the  gospel.      What  would  have  been  his 
verdict  to-day  if  he  had  been  called  in  our  generation  to 
investigate  the  claims  of  a  "  new  theology,"  which  seems 
to  speak  of  the  historic  character  and  even  the  existence 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  fairly  open  to  question,  and  finds 
nothing  in  the  cross  of  Calvary  but  one  more  tragedy  of 
martyrdom  ?   What  would  he  have  said  of  a  Christianity 
which  no  longer  worships  the  Son  of  God,  or  looks 
forward  to  a  personal  resurrection,  or  trembles  before  a 
final  judgment  ?    That  he  would  express  himself  on  all 
these  momentous  subjects  after  the  manner  of  the 
twentieth  century  may  go  without  saying,  but  can  you 
imagine  him  sanctioning  as  a  possible  version  of  the 
faith  of  "  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified  "  the  strange 
amalgam  of  bad  criticism  and  good  advice  which  is  now 
being  forced  on  us  in  some  quarters  under  the  grotesque 
description  of  a  "  new  theology  "  ?    Would  he  have 
written  to  a  Christian  minister  in  London  in  any  other 
terms  than  those  which  he  addressed  to  Timothy  in 
Ephesus  bidding  him  "  charge  certain  men  not  to  teach 
a  different  doctrine,  neither  to  give  heed  to  fables  and 
endless  genealogies,  the  which  minister  questionings, 
rather  than  a  dispensation  of  God  which  is  in  faith  "  ? 


154 


XI 


THE  FAILURE  OF  TRADITION1 

MAKING  VOID  THE  WORD  OF  GOD  BY  YOUR  TRADITION. 

S.  MARK  vii.  13. 

i.  The  words  of  Christ  discover  a  very  amazing 
conflict,  and  indicate  a  very  lamentable  perversion. 
Addressing  the  solemn  leaders  of  an  ancient  national 
church,  He  tells  them  that  their  tradition  is  so  deeply 
opposed  to  the  word  of  God  that  to  be  loyal  to  the  one 
is  to  be  false  to  the  other,  to  obey  the  one  is  to  empty 
the  other  of  meaning.  Could  opposition  proceed 
farther  or  conflict  be  more  violent  ?  What  is  "  tradi- 
tion "  ?  What  is  its  professed  object  ?  What  is  its 
sole  title  to  human  regard  ?  What  is  the  test  of  its 
value  ?  To  ask  these  questions  is  to  be  brought  within 
sight  of  a  dismaying  and  lamentable  perversion.  For 
by  "  the  tradition  of  the  elders,"  which  the  evangelist 
says  the  Pharisees  held,  we  must  understand  the  set  of 
casuistic  principles  and  practical  regulations  which  had 
come  down  from  the  past,  and  were  commended  by  the 
wisdom  of  the  most  eminent  teachers,  and  by  the 
example  of  the  most  revered  saints.  The  object  of 
rabbinic  casuistry  was  thoroughly  valid  and  salutary. 
How  shall  the  divine  law  be  made  serviceable  to  men, 

1  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  the  13th  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  September  5,  1909. 

155 


Westminster  Sermons 


so  that  they  may  be  able,  in  the  bewildering  complica- 
tions of  social  life,  to  find  in  it  "  a  lamp  unto  their  feet 
and  light  unto  their  paths  "  ?  To  find  the  answer  to 
this  question  is  the  object  of  all  casuistry,  as  well 
Christian  as  rabbinic  or  pagan.  None  can  deny  that 
the  question  needs  answering  ;  and  few  will  doubt  that 
the  accumulated  decisions  and  precedents  of  the  past 
have  a.  prima  facie  title  to  consideration  when  the  task 
of  answering  it  is  seriously  undertaken.  We  must  not 
suppose  that  our  Lord  disallowed  the  object,  or  even 
condemned  the  method,  of  the  Pharisees,  whom  yet  He 
accused  of  "making  void  the  word  of  God  by  their 
tradition." 

2.  Christ  never  disputed  the  obligation  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  or  the  authority  of  the  established  hierarchy.  It 
was,  indeed,  natural  to  suppose  the  contrary — natural  I 
mean  in  the  case  of  simple  folk  who  heard  Him  often 
criticizing  the  current  system,  and  knew  that  He  was 
regarded  by  the  officials  with  extreme  disfavour.  We 
may  detect  in  His  language  the  intention  to  correct  an 
existing  misconception  about  Himself  and  the  effect  of 
His  teaching.  "  Think  not  that  I  came  to  destroy  the 
law  or  the  prophets,"  He  said  :  "  I  came  not  to  destroy 
but  to  fulfil."  He  retorted  on  His  opponents  the  accusa- 
tion they  were  so  eager  to  fasten  on  Him.  The  real 
destroyers  of  the  Mosaic  law  were  those  who  "  made 
void  the  word  of  God  by  their  tradition."  Christ  would 
not  suffer  His  disciples  to  make  of  His  teaching  an 
argument  for  religious  secession.  He  even  emphasized 
the  validity  of  the  title  to  respect,  which  their  office  con- 
ferred on  the  leaders  of  the  national  Church.  "  The 
scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  on  Moses'  seat,"  He  said: 

156 


The  Failure  of  Tradition 


"  all  things  therefore  whatsoever  they  bid  you,  these  do 
and  observe  :  but  do  not  ye  after  their  works  :  for  they 
say,  and  do  not."  The  distinction  between  such  obedi- 
ence to  precept  and  disregard  of  example  was  manifestly 
incapable  of  permanent  maintenance.  A  hierarchy  which 
could  command  no  more  than  that  limited  and  con- 
temptuous obedience  was  plainly  stricken  and  passing 
away.  When  one  "  tradition  "  is  convicted  of  "  making 
void  the  word  of  God,"  it  is  losing  its  hold  and  has  but 
a  short  time.  But  the  final  catastrophe,  in  which  the 
Jewish  Church  was  overwhelmed,  and  out  of  which  the 
Christian  Church  was  born,  was  not  brought  about 
by  any  revolutionary  action  on  the  part  of  Christ's 
disciples. 

3.  The  object  of  "  tradition,"  or  authoritative 
casuistry,  is  not  to  "  make  void  "  the  word  of  God,  but 
to  provide  such  an  interpretation  of  it  as  shall  qualify  it 
for  practical  use.  If  that  be  the  object,  then  evidently 
the  determining  principle  of  sound  tradition  must  be 
sought  not  in  a  punctilious  regard  for  the  letter  of  the 
divine  law,  but  in  a  genuine  sympathy  with  its  spirit. 
The  task  of  the  moral  teacher  will  be,  not  that  of  the 
grammarian  merely,  or  that  of  the  lawyer,  or  that  of 
the  scribe,  but  beyond  all  these,  and  in  addition  to 
them,  that  of  the  prophet.  We  must  remember  that 
two  contemporary  and  conflicting  traditions  had  come 
down  from  the  past,  and  were  actually  finding  effective 
expression  at  the  time.  There  was  the  "  tradition  of  the 
elders,"  that  is,  of  such  great  teachers  as  Hillel  and 
Shammai,  or  the  scribes  of  former  generations,  and  this 
magnified  the  letter  of  the  Mosaic  law  and  made  it  fit 
the  circumstances  of  human  life  by  a  marvellously  subtle 

157 


Westminster  Sermons 

system  of  hair-splitting  interpretations,  which  forced 
into  the  sacred  text,  or  out  of  it,  some  specific  direction 
for  practical  use  in  every  contingency  of  human  action. 
Obligation  was  balanced  against  obligation  :  an  arbitrary 
graduation  of  moral  claims  was  established :  duty  was 
finally  expressed  in  a  precise  and  authoritative  demand 
from  an  external  authority.     This  rabbinic  tradition 
was  that  which  the  Pharisees  held,  and  concerning 
which  Christ  said  that  it  "made  void"  the  word  of 
God,  emptied  it  of  its  treasure  of  moral  guidance,  and 
rendered  it  as  a  rule  of  conduct  actually  misleading. 
Against  this  purely  external  tradition  S.  John  the 
Baptist  had  in  that  generation  taught  the  older  tradi- 
tion of  the  prophets.    This  found  the  guiding  principle 
within  the  individual  conscience,  and  recognized  in  the 
written  "  word  of  God  "  a  solemn  appeal  to  that  autho- 
rity, and  an  authoritative  affirmation  of  its  utterances. 
This  prophetic  tradition  made  the  conscience,  illumi- 
nated by  the  divine  Spirit,  the  interpreter  of  the  sacred 
text,  and  recognized  no  validity  in  the  latter  where  it 
contradicted  the  former.    With  the  prophet  Micah, 
this  tradition  said  to  the  inquirer,  "  He  hath  shewed 
thee,  O  man,  what  is  good :  and  what  doth  the  Lord 
require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and 
to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God."     In  other  words,  the 
Pharisaic  tradition  treated  the  "  word  of  God  "  as  the 
utterance  of  a  banished  authority,  recorded  in  the  past, 
and  left  as  a  perpetual  statute  for  the  courts  to  interpret ; 
the  prophetic  tradition  rather  fastened  on  the  thought 
of  God  as  ever  present  with  His  people,  and  found  in 
His  written  word  a  declaration  of  His  mind  authenti- 
cated and  interpreted  by  His  Spirit  in  the  consciences 

158 


The  Failure  of  Tradition 


of  His  servants.  The  one  tradition  "  made  void  "  the 
ancient  law  by  stripping  it  of  any  relation  to  the  human 
conscience  ;  the  other  made  it  full  with  the  deeper 
senses  and  larger  applications  which  had  grown  from 
experience  inspired  and  illumined  by  religion.  S.  Paul 
has  summed  up  the  differences  between  the  two  tradi- 
tions in  one  luminous  sentence:  "The  letter  killeth, 
but  the  spirit  giveth  life." 

4.  The  nature   and   the   reason  of  the  failure  of 
rabbinic  tradition  are  illustrated  by  our  Lord  in  the 
case  of  the  fifth  commandment.    No  one  will  deny  that 
the  practical  application  of  that  commandment  is  not 
at  all  times  manifest.    The  duty  to  parents  not  rarely 
comes  into  collision  with  other  duties,  which  may  well 
be  thought  to  have  superior  title  to  respect.  Moreover, 
there  is  ambiguity  in  the  commandment  itself.  What 
precisely  is   meant  by  "honouring"  one's  parents? 
Does  the  divine  law  set  no  limits  to  parental  claim  ? 
Is  the  right  to  be  "  honoured  "  inherent  in  the  natural 
relationship,  and  wholly  separated  from  personal  justi- 
fications ?    May  it  not  be  cancelled  by  other  and  even 
more  binding  obligations  ?    May  it  not  be  forfeited  by 
parental  wrong-doing  ?     These  are  not  frivolous  or 
impractical  questions  :  they  carry  to  the  heart  of  human 
duty  as  it  actually  faces  men  :  and  disclose  the  problems 
which  they  must  solve  in  some  way,  if  they  are  to  find 
the  divine  law  something  more  than  a  dead  letter. 
Our  Saviour  sets  in  contrast  the  fifth  commandment 
and  the  decision  of  the  rabbis  on  one  such  question, 
very  urgent  then,  and  often  within  the  Christian  Church 
urgent  since.    Does  the  duty  to  honour  parents  require 
that  a  son  should  sacrifice  a  religious  design  in  order  to 

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Westminster  Sermons 


provide  for  their  needs  ?  Ought  he  to  take  the  money 
which  he  had  vowed  to  place  in  the  temple  treasury  in 
order  to  save  his  needy  parents  from  distress  ?  The 
rabbis  decided  that  the  claim  of  the  temple  treasury 
must  override  the  claim  of  the  parents  :  they  set  the 
ecclesiastical  obligation  created  by  the  vow  above  the 
moral  obligation  declared  in  the  fifth  commandment. 
"  Ye  say,  If  a  man  shall  say  to  his  father  or  his  mother, 
That  wherewith  thou  mightest  have  been  profited  by 
me  is  Corban,  that  is  to  say,  Given  to  God  ;  ye  no 
longer  suffer  him  to  do  aught  for  his  father  or  his 
mother  :  making  void  the  word  of  God  by  your  tradition, 
which  ye  have  delivered  :  and  many  such  like  things  ye 
do."  The  mere  setting  forth  of  the  original  law  side 
by  side  with  the  traditional  casuistry  which  explained 
it  away  was  sufficient  to  condemn  the  latter. 

5.  When  we  inquire  what  lay  at  the  root  of  this 
immense  perversion,  we  shall  perhaps  discover  that  it 
was  nothing  less  than  a  false  identification  of  the  will 
of  God  with  the  ordinance  of  an  external  authority 
claiming  to  speak  in  His  name.  This  false  identification 
of  "  the  tradition  of  the  elders,"  as  received  and 
re-affirmed  by  the  ecclesiastical  authority  with  the 
"  word  of  God,"  necessarily  involved  two  grave  con- 
sequences. In  the  first  place  the  tradition  was  really 
set  above  the  divine  commandment,  which  it  professed 
only  to  interpret.  For,  necessarily,  when  once  the 
voice  of  the  ecclesiastical  authority  has  been  identified 
with  the  voice  of  God,  then  the  authority  of  the  tradition 
is  no  wise  inferior  to  the  authority  of  the  divine  com- 
mandment, and  has  the  superior  obligation  which 
properly  belongs  to  the  later  utterance.     The  tradition 

160 


The  Failure  of  Tradition 


is  as  a  codicil  attached  to  a  will,  added  to  the  latter  by 
the  very  author  of  it,  and  therefore  assumed  to  express 
his  final  determination.  The  will  must  be  governed  by 
the  codicil,  and  read  subject  to  the  limitations  therein 
prescribed.  In  the  next  place  the  clothing  of  the 
ecclesiastical  decision  with  divine  authority  involved 
setting  "  the  tradition  of  the  elders  "  above  the  verdicts 
of  the  individual  conscience.  For  how  could  modesty 
endure,  or  reason  justify,  the  advancing  of  such  verdicts 
against  the  very  pronouncement  of  God  ?  "  Private 
judgment  "  cannot  vindicate  any  rights  against  the 
declared  will  of  God ;  and  if  indeed  that  will  be 
sufficiently  certified  by  an  external  authority  of  the 
rabbis,  then  the  decision  of  the  rabbis  must  override 
all  protests  of  the  individual  conscience  and  prevail. 

6.  These  are  serious  consequences.  Even  the  ardent 
advocate  of  tradition  will  not  deny  that  the  subjection 
of  the  written  word  of  God  to  an  ecclesiastical  authority, 
and  the  disallowance  of  private  judgment,  are  matters 
so  grave  that  only  a  clear  demonstration  of  title  could 
justify  their  acceptance.  For  experience  has  made  it 
very  plain  that  the  shaping  of  the  tradition  has  not 
been  exempted  from  certain  risks,  which  appear  to 
attach  to  all  human  action  :  and  it  needs  no  proving 
that  the  ecclesiastical  authority,  ex  hypothesi  divine, 
has  been  administered  by  men  who  exhibit  no  convinc- 
ing evidences  of  superior  goodness  or  wisdom.  Take 
the  case  to  which  our  Lord  made  reference.  Could 
any  deny  that  the  tradition  which  sacrificed  parental 
claims  to  the  claim  of  the  temple  treasury  had  an 
obvious  connection  with  the  secular  interest  of  the 
temple  hierarchy  ?  that  therefore,  when  the  members 

161  L 


Westminster  Sermons 


of  that  hierarchy  fulfilled  their  official  task  of  inter- 
preting the  law,  they  were  really  subject  to  the  tempta- 
tion to  serve  their  own  interests  ?  that  by  every  con- 
sideration of  prudence  and  justice  they  must  be  held  to 
be  disqualified  by  that  circumstance  ?  that  the  broad 
effect  of  their  action,  under  the  actual  conditions,  was 
to  compromise  the  tradition  they  declared,  by  all  those 
factors  which  in  common  life  invalidate  verdicts  and 
annihilate  confidence?  The  phrase  of  Christ  takes  a 
dark  suggestiveness  when  these  questions  are  raised. 
The  tradition  of  the  elders  comes  to  be  verily  the 
tradition  of  certain  interested  parties,  whose  biased 
verdicts  "  make  void  the  word  of  God." 

7.  The  Jewish  Church  was  nowise  singular  in  its 
casuistry.  Take  the  gospels  and  set  them  beside  the 
casuists  of  Christendom,  and  you  will  be  confronted  by 
the  same  amazing  conflict  and  have  to  acknowledge  the 
same  lamentable  perversion.  One  example  will  suffice. 
The  very  question  debated  by  the  Pharisees  in  the  time 
of  Christ  was  also  debated  by  the  casuists  of  the  Western 
Church,  who — with  Christ's  words  before  them — re- 
affirmed the  rabbinic  tradition.  How  far  may  the 
parental  claim  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  religious 
action  of  children  ?  I  need  not  remind  you  that  the 
word  "religious"  has  a  limited  significance  in  the 
pages  of  the  casuists.  To  be  "religious"  means  there 
to  enter  a  convent :  to  profess  a  vocation  to  religion 
means  to  take  the  vows  of  a  monk  or  nun.  Many 
questions  are  raised  and  discussed  with  respect  to  the 
adjustment  of  the  apparently  conflicting  claims  of 
natural  duty  and  formal  religion.  What  degree  of 
parental  necessity  may  hinder  sons  from  entering  the 

162 


The  Failure  of  Tradition 


cloister  ?  If  his  parents  are  starving,  may  a  son  leave 
the  cloister  to  aid  them  ?  Do  sons  commit  sin  if  they 
enter  "  religion  "  without  the  consent  or  the  knowledge 
of  their  parents  ?  We  may,  perhaps,  quote  the  answer 
to  the  last  question.  After  quoting  authorities  Liguori 
sums  up  in  this  way  : — 

"  The  conclusion  to  which  we  are  led  is  that  not  only  do  sons, 
who  become  monks  without  consulting  their  parents,  not  sin,  but 
ordinarily  speaking,  they  make  a  grave  mistake  if  they  inform 
their  parents  of  their  vocation,  because  they  thus  expose  themselves 
to  the  danger  of  being  deflected  from  their  purpose ;  and  this  con- 
clusion is  confirmed  by  the  examples  of  countless  saints  whose 
departures  without  the  knowledge  and  against  the  will  of  their 
parents,  God  even  sanctioned  by  miracles  and  blessed." 

This  ruling,  you  must  remember,  applies  to  the  case 
of  boys  above  the  age  of  fourteen  years.  Can  we  doubt 
that  such  casuistry  also  "  makes  void  the  word  of 
God"? 

But,  you  will  say,  the  difficulties  which  the  casuistry, 
Jewish  and  Christian,  attempted  to  remove,  remain, 
and  the  palpable  failure  of  the  casuists  brings  us  no 
nearer  to  the  solution  of  the  problem,  how  to  make 
the  word  of  God  an  adequate  rule  for  our  guidance 
in  the  tangled  ways  of  the  world.  To  what  con- 
clusion would  you  lead  us  ?  Well,  in  the  first  place 
I  would  certainly  emphasize  our  Saviour's  repudiation 
of  "  the  tradition  of  the  elders."  It  is  no  slight 
advantage  in  the  search  for  truth  to  be  warned  off  the 
wrong  paths.  We  may  make  up  our  minds  on  this 
point,  viz.,  that  we  shall  not  solve  the  problem  of 
moral  obedience  by  putting  our  necks  again  under  the 
yoke  of  official  guidance.  The  casuistry  of  the  rabbis, 
Christian   not   less   than   Jewish,    may   silence  our 

163  l  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


questionings  but  cannot  answer  them,  and  the  inward 
calm  which  may  be  gained  at  the  hands  of  official 
directors  will  be  dearly  bought  by  the  enfeeblement  of 
our  self-respect. 

Next,  I  would  suggest  that  the  key  to  the  practical 
problem  is  disclosed  in  our  Lord's  words.  Whatever 
decision  you  frame  for  yourself,  or  accept  from  others, 
at  least  make  sure  that  it  does  not  "  make  void  the 
word  of  God."  This  is  an  unfailing  test  of  casuistry. 
Does  it  really  extend  the  principle  of  the  divine 
commandment,  and  not  restrict  or  set  it  aside?  Does 
it  make  God's  word  more  effectively  your  guide  in 
life  ?  or  does  it  throw  that  word  to  a  greater  distance 
from  actual  conduct  ?  Does  it  fill  the  commandment 
with  new  relevancy  and  richer  significance  ?  or  does  it 
empty  it  of  practical  value  ? 

These  questions  must  be  asked  with  respect  to  every 
tradition  which  is  offered  for  our  guidance,  and  to 
every  precedent  which  the  records  of  Christian  living 
can  produce.  By  asking  them  we  are  able  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  true  witness  of  the  past  and  the 
false,  and  we  gain  strength  and  guidance  for  the  solemn 
work  of  self-direction  to  which,  as  Christians,  we  are 
called. 

Yes,  we  come  back  finally  to  that  fact  of  personal 
responsibility  —  complete,  inalienable,  continuing  — 
which  is  the  basis  of  Christian  morality,  the  vindication 
of  which  is  the  singular  glory  of  the  Christian  religion. 
In  the  last  resort  you  must  determine  your  own  course, 
be  your  own  casuist,  govern  yourself.  You  are  the 
captain  on  your  ship  as  it  takes  its  perilous  course  over 
the  ocean  of  life,  and  for  your  guidance  there  is  the 

164 


The  Failure  of  Tradition 


chart  on  board  and  the  pilot  stars  above.  The 
metaphor  fails,  for  when  the  Christian  speaks  of  self- 
direction  he  is  thinking  of  that  surrendered  and  trans- 
figured self,  which  has  become  the  instrument  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  "  If  any  man  be  in  Christ,"  says 
S.  Paul,  "  he  is  a  new  creature."  There  is  within  the 
Christian  a  divine  Monitor,  who  will  solve  his  doubts. 
"  If  ye  are  led  by  the  Spirit  ye  are  not  under  the  law." 
And  the  supreme  grace  of  this  inward  guidance  lies  in 
the  marvel  and  mystery  of  its  reverence  for  the  spirit  of 
man.  Only  in  the  terms  of  extravagant  paradox  can 
the  solemn  and  familiar  facts  of  the  spiritual  life  be 
told.  "  I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ,"  cries  the 
apostle,  "yet  I  live:  and  yet  no  longer  I,  but  Christ 
in  me."  The  same  paradox,  thus  passionately  confessed 
by  the  great  mystic,  is  more  coldly  uttered  in  the 
deliberate  verse  of  Wordsworth,  when  in  his  solemn 
invocation  of  duty  he  includes  the  prayer  for  grace  of 
self-direction  : — 

"  Yet  not  the  less  would  I  throughout 
Still  act  according  to  the  voice 
Of  my  own  wish ;  and  feel  past  doubt 
That  my  submissiveness  was  choice — 
Not  seeking  in  the  school  of  pride 
For  '  precepts  over  dignified,' 
Denial  and  restraint  I  prize 

No  farther  than  they  breed  a  second  will  more  wise." 

That  "  second  will "  is  the  creation  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  ;  and  to  possess  it  is  to  have  solved  the  problem  of 
casuistry,  and  gained  at  last  moral  independence. 


165 


XII 


RABBINISM  AND  FRATERNITY1 

BUT  BE  NOT  YE  CALLED  RABBI  :  FOR  ONE  IS  YOUR  TEACHER,  AND 
ALL  YE  ARE  BRETHREN. — S.  MATTHEW  XxiH.  8. 

i.  These  words  form  part  of  a  very  striking  dis- 
course of  Christ,  briefly  summarized  in  the  gospels  of 
S.  Mark  and  S.  Luke,  and  more  fully  reported  in  the 
gospel  of  S.  Matthew.  Our  Saviour,  as  the  end  of  His 
public  ministry  drew  near,  came  into  public  conflict 
with  the  religious  leaders  of  His  nation,  and  openly 
rebuked  their  personal  and  official  misdeeds.  He  drew 
a  contrast  between  them  and  their  system  on  the  one 
hand,  and  His  disciples  and  the  system  which  would 
inevitably  come  in  due  course  to  be  theirs,  on  the  other. 
This  contrast  perhaps  adds  a  distinctive  importance  to 
the  actual  admonitions,  because  it  prohibits  us  from 
generalizing  them  unduly,  and  requires  us  to  read 
them  as  properly  designed  to  teach  the  truth  about 
Christianity,  as  the  ordained  successor  to  the  religion 
of  Israel.  The  church  of  Moses  was  to  pass  away  :  the 
Church  of  Christ  was  to  take  its  place.  What  was  to  be 
the  relation  of  the  one  to  the  other  ?  How  far  was  the 
new  religious  society  built  on  the  acknowledgment  of 

1  Preached  on  the  7th  Sunday  after  Trinity,  July  17,  1904,  in 
S.  Margaret's,  Westminster. 

166 


Rabbinism  and  Fraternity 

Christ's  Messiahship  to  reproduce  the  familiar  features 
of  the  Church  which  had  lost  its  raison  d'etre  with  the 
Messiah's  advent  ?  It  is  important  to  remember  that 
our  Saviour  emphatically  recognized  the  authority  of 
the  Jewish  Church  at  the  time.  He  begins  His  great 
indictment  of  the  leaders  of  its  hierarchy  with  a  solemn 
recognition  of  their  spiritual  claims  ;  it  is,  indeed,  not 
the  least  count  in  that  indictment  that  they  contra- 
dicted by  their  practice  the  main  substance  of  their 
official  witness.  "  Then  spake  Jesus  to  the  multitudes 
and  to  His  disciples,  saying,  '  The  scribes  and  the 
Pharisees  sit  on  Moses'  seat  :  all  things  therefore  what- 
soever they  bid  you,  these  do  and  observe  :  but  do  not 
ye  after  their  works  ;  for  they  say,  and  do  not.'  "  Our 
Lord  goes  on  to  describe  the  hypocrisy  of  the  current 
system  of  morals,  the  ostentation  and  love  of  social 
prominence  of  the  religious  leaders,  and,  as  evidencing 
these  tempers,  their  delight  "  in  the  salutations  in  the 
market-places,  and  to  be  called  of  men,  rabbi."  Then 
He  turns  to  His  disciples,  and  charges  them  not  in 
their  turn  to  reproduce  these  familiar  characteristics  of 
men  in  office.  "  But  be  not  ye  called  rabbi :  for  one 
is  your  teacher,  and  all  ye  are  brethren.  And  call  no 
man  your  father  on  the  earth  ;  for  one  is  your  Father, 
which  is  in  heaven.  Neither  be  ye  called  masters  ;  for 
one  is  your  master,  even  the  Christ."  He  adds  to  these 
striking  contrasts  some  words  which  would  seem  to 
have  been  often  on  His  lips,  as  they  appear  in  various 
connections  in  the  records  of  His  life.  "  But  he  that 
is  greatest  among  you  shall  be  your  servant.  And  who- 
soever shall  exalt  himself  shall  be  humbled :  and 
whosoever  shall  humble  himself  shall  be  exalted." 

167 


Westminster  Sermons 

2.  You  will  observe  that  Christ  offers  reasons  for  His 
prohibitions  which  throw  light  on  their  character  and 
range.    We  cannot  be  mistaken  in  thinking  that  there 
is  something  more  in  them  than  a  solemn  warning 
against  ostentation  and  social   ambition.  Warnings 
against  such  faults  are  the  commonplaces  of  ethical 
teaching,  and  we  could  find  many  of  them  in  the 
writings  of  the  rabbis  themselves.    It  needed  not  to 
emphasize  the  sole  teachership  of  Christ,  and  the  new 
relationship  of  fraternity  which  must  necessarily  grow 
up  among  His  disciples,  if  all  that  was  intended  was  a 
condemnation  of  a  familiar  and  universally  censured 
fault.    Moreover,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that,  at  this 
stage  in  His  ministry,  our  Saviour  had  clearly  announced 
His  purpose  of  founding  a  Church,  and  had  indicated 
the  general  plan  of  its  domestic  discipline.    He  had 
evidently  appointed  in  the  apostles  persons  who  were, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  authorized  officials ;  and  we 
may  add  that  those  apostles  had  but  too  plainly  shown 
how  thoroughly  they  appreciated  that  aspect  of  their 
position.    The  sons  of  Zebedee  had  asked  for  them- 
selves the  chief  places  in  the  kingdom,  and  their  request 
had  moved  the  other  apostles  to  an  indignation  equally 
natural  and  suggestive.    As  then,  Christ,  in  rebuking 
the  ambition  of  His  followers,  had  disallowed  the  con- 
ventional notion  of  office  which  underlay  it,  so  here,  in 
warning   them   against    the  notorious  faults  of  the 
Jewish  hierarchy,  He  seems  to  be  disallowing  the  con- 
ventional notion  of  spiritual  office  which  those  faults 
implied.    I  submit,  therefore,  that  we  are  to  find  in  the 
text,  not  merely  a  warning  against  certain  defects  of 
character,  but  also  a  luminous  teaching   about  the 

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Rabbinism  and  Fraternity 

Christian  society  itself.  The  fundamental  character  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  the  nature  of  its  mystic  unity,  the 
limits  of  official  authority  within  it,  the  conditions 
under  which  officials  exist  and  bear  rule  among  its 
members,  are  outlined  in  the  threefold  contrast  which 
our  Saviour  draws  between  the  scribes  and  Pharisees 
and  His  disciples.  We  may  observe  in  passing  that  it 
would  appear  to  be  self-evident  that  there  is  no  question 
of  a  literal  understanding  of  Christ's  words,  as  if  He,  in 
the  spirit  of  an  extravagant  and  impracticable  theorist, 
were  prohibiting  the  use  within  His  Church  of  distinc- 
tive and  honorific  titles.  It  is  on  record  that  He 
Himself  designated  the  twelve  disciples  as  apostles, 
and,  within  that  chosen  company,  allotted  to  S.  Peter 
a  precedence,  and  to  Judas  Iscariot  an  important  and 
responsible  duty.  The  famous  objection  of  the  Quakers 
to  allow  or  to  use  the  current  titles  of  respect  does  not 
really  deserve  serious  discussion,  and  has  never,  so  far  as  I 
can  appraise  the  history  of  those  interesting  enthusiasts, 
brought  to  them  anything  but  unnecessary  miscon- 
ception and  unmerited  obloquy.  We  need  not  spend 
time  in  justifying  our  repudiation  of  an  interpretation, 
which  no  rational  student  of  the  New  Testament  could 
for  one  moment  allow.  We  may  certainly  find  more  in 
Christ's  words  than  the  most  futile  of  positive  rules. 

3.  "  But  be  not  ye  called  rabbi:  for  one  is  your 
teacher,  and  all  ye  are  brethren.  And  call  no  man  your 
father  on  the  earth  :  for  one  is  your  Father,  which  is  in 
heaven.  Neither  be  ye  called  masters  :  for  one  is  your 
master,  even  the  Christ."  What  are  we  to  understand 
by  these  words  ?  What  would  the  disciples  have  under- 
stood them  to  mean  ?    What  can  we,  reading  them  with 

169 


Westminster  Sermons 


the  commentary  of  Christian  experience  to  elucidate 
their  meaning,  see  that  they  did  mean  ?  These  are  the 
questions  to  which  we  must  address  ourselves.  Rabbi, 
teacher,  master  were  titles  in  current  use  among  the 
Jews,  and  bearing  substantially  the  same  meaning  :  they 
were  of  recent  application  to  the  scribes  who,  in  the 
last  age  of  the  national  history,  had  attained  to  a  para- 
mount position.  These  scribes,  or — as  they  are  also 
styled  in  the  New  Testament  "  lawyers  " — were  a  class 
of  learned  specialists,  who  may  be  said  to  have 
monopolized  the  study  of  the  scriptures.  Their  promi- 
nence indicated  the  supreme  importance  attached  to  the 
written  law  among  the  later  Jews. 

"  The  higher  the  law  rose  in  the  estimation  of  the  people,  the 
more  did  its  study  and  exposition  become  an  independent  busi- 
ness .  .  .  An  independent  class  of  '  biblical  scholars  or  scribes,' 
i.e.,  of  men  who  made  acquaintance  with  the  law  a  profession,  was 
formed  beside  the  priests.  And  when  in  the  time  of  Hellenism,  the 
priests,  at  least  those  of  the  higher  strata,  often  applied  themselves 
to  heathen  culture,  and  more  or  less  neglected  the  law  of  their 
fathers,  the  scribes  ever  appeared  in  a  relative  contrast  to  the 
priests.  It  was  no  longer  the  priests,  but  the  scribes,  who  were 
the  jealous  guardians  of  the  law.  Hence  they  were  also  from  that 
time  onwards  the  real  teachers  of  the  people,  over  whose  spiritual 
life  they  bore  complete  sway.  ...  In  the  time  of  the  New 
Testament  we  find  this  process  fully  completed  ;  the  scribes  then 
formed  a  firmly  compacted  class  in  undisputed  possession  of  a 
spiritual  supremacy  over  the  people." 

These  scribes  or  rabbis  were  the  casuists  of  their  time, 
and  their  decisions  were  accumulated  into  a  vast  body 
of  authoritative  dicta,  which  was  carefully  transmitted, 
and  continually  added  to.  They  exacted  from  their 
pupils  the  utmost  deference  and  subjection.  "  Respect 
for  a  teacher,  it  was  said,  should  exceed  respect  for  a 
father,  for  both  father  and  son  owe  respect  to  a  teacher." 
They  were  the  most  thorough-going  of  traditionalists. 

ryo 


Rabbinism  and  Fraternity 

"A  pupil,"  says  Schurer,  "had  only  two  duties.  One  was  to 
keep  everything  faithfully  in  memory.  .  .  .  The  second  duty  was 
never  to  teach  anything  otherwise  than  it  had  been  delivered  to 
him.  Even  in  expression  he  was  to  confine  himself  to  the  words 
of  his  teacher.  ...  It  was  the  highest  praise  of  a  pupil  to  be  '  like 
a  well  lined  with  lime,  which  loses  not  ons  drop.' '" 

The  disciples,  then,  could  not  but  have  understood 
from  their  Master's  words  that,  within  the  society  of 
Christ's  disciples,  there  was  to  be  nothing  corresponding 
to  the  rabbis,  and  their  didactic  method.  Teachers 
indeed  there  would  be,  but  not  such  teachers.  The 
criterion  of  truth  within  the  Church  was  not  to  be  some 
honoured  teacher's  exactly  recorded  dicta,  but  the  Spirit 
of  the  Teacher  of  teachers  abiding  in  the  hearts  of  His 
disciples.  Instead  of  a  succession  of  Christian  rabbis, 
whose  tradition,  transmitted  and  enriched  through  the 
ages,  should  be  the  final  authority  on  all  religious 
questions,  there  should  be  an  unfailing  presence  of 
Christ  in  the  Church.  Christian  teachers  would  retain 
the  character  of  witnesses,  with  which  they  started : 
their  raison  d'etre  would  be  to  bring  into  the  life  of  the 
Church,  as  the  supreme  principle  of  all  Christian  pro- 
cedures, the  fact  of  Christ's  real  presence  with  His 
people.  "  We  preach  not  ourselves,"  said  S.  Paul, 
speaking  in  the  name  of  all  Christian  ministers  who  are 
truly  such,  "  but  Christ  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  ourselves  as 
your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake."  You  observe  that  our 
Saviour  bases  His  prohibition  of  Christian  rabbinism 
on  two  facts  :  His  own  supremacy  and  the  fraternity 
of  disciples.  "  One  is  your  teacher,  and  all  ye  are 
brethren."  It  is  evident  that  He  held  the  rabbinic 
position  to  be  inconsistent  with  His  own  supremacy. 
1  "  History  of  the  Jewish  People,"  II.,  i.,  p.  312  f. 
171 


Westminster  Sermons 


Of  the  scribes,  who  professed  themselves  beyond  all 
others  the  guardians  and  exponents  of  the  divine  law, 
He  said  that  they  made  void  the  word  of  God  by  their 
tradition.  How  often  have  His  words  been  echoed 
since  by  His  disciples,  and  applied  with  obvious  fitness 
to  those  who  pass  among  their  fellows  for  His  professed 
representatives!  There  was  reasonableness  in  the 
orthodox  accusation,  often  pressed  by  the  fathers  of 
the  Church  in  the  primitive  ages,  that  the  heretics,  in 
adopting  descriptions  formed  from  the  names  of  the 
heresiarchs  whom  they  followed,  were  demonstrating 
their  disloyalty  to  Christ  Himself;  but  the  time  came 
when,  under  the  plea  of  a  rigorous  loyalty  to  Christ,  the 
orthodox  outdid  all  heretics  in  their  contempt  for  the 
Founder's  authority.  In  truth  the  danger  of  an  irra- 
tional traditionalism,  i.e.,  the  tendency  to  exalt  Christian 
teachers  into  a  position  of  rabbinic  authority  ;  the  habit 
of  seeing  our  belief  through  the  eyes  of  others,  and 
disguising  mental  indolence  and  moral  obtuseness 
under  the  fair-seeming  masque  of  a  religious  deference 
to  the  great  teachers  of  the  past — fathers,  schoolmen, 
reformers,  founders  and  leaders  of  religious  movements, 
is  never  far  from  Christian  folk.  Richard  Hooker, 
in  the  preface  to  the  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity,"  made 
a  protest  against  the  excessive  authority  ascribed  by 
the  Puritans  of  that  age  to  Calvin,  and  compared  it 
with  the  regard  paid  by  Roman  Catholics  to  Peter 
Lombard. 

"  Of  what  account,"  he  said,  "  the  Master  of  Sentences  was  in 
the  Church  of  Rome,  the  same  and  more  amongst  the  preachers  of 
reformed  churches  Calvin  had  purchased  ;  so  that  the  perfectest 
divines   were  judged  they   which  were  skilfullest  in  Calvin's 


172 


Rabbinism  and  Fraternity 

writings.  His  books  almost  the  very  canon  to  judge  both  doctrine 
and  discipline  by.'' 1 

The  great  Anglican's  protest  may  well  be  remembered 
now  when,  in  spite  of  ourselves,  we  are  required  to  face 
new  issues,  and  to  make  our  account  with  new  situa- 
tions. 

"  Be  not  ye  called  rabbi  "  says  Christ,  "  for  one  is 
your  teacher,  and  all  ye  are  brethren."  The  Christian 
teacher  is  no  ordained  rabbi  guarding  a  tradition  of 
authoritative  teaching,  and  adding  to  it  his  own  dicta, 
binding  both  on  the  Church,  but  always  only  a  disciple 
charged  to  help  his  brethren,  and  appointed  to  that 
service.  The  famous  Puritan  appeal  to  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  which  often  from  this  pulpit  I  have  read  to 
you  and  made  my  own,  has  the  true  ring  of  the  Christian 
p2Storate  : 

"  I  charge  you  " — said  Robinson  to  his  disciples  ere 
they  set  sail  for  America  on  their  memorable  venture — 

"  I  charge  you  before  God  and  His  blessed  angels,  that  you 
follow  me  no  farther  than  you  have  seen  me  follow  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  If  God  reveal  anything  to  you,  by  any  other  instrument  of 
His,  be  as  ready  to  receive  it  as  ever  you  were  to  receive  any  truth 
by  my  ministry  ;  for  I  am  verily  persuaded,  the  Lord  has  more 
truth  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  His  holy  word." 

These  manly  and  modest  words  seem  to  reflect  the 
very  teaching  of  our  Lord.  "  Be  not  ye  called  rabbi ; 
for  one  is  your  teacher,  and  all  ye  are  brethren."  How 
is  it — we  cannot  help  asking — that,  in  spite  of  teachings 
so  clear  and  so  explicit,  the  Christian  Church  has,  beyond 
all  question,  reproduced  with  impressive  exactness  the 
phenomena  of  that  rabbinism  which  Christ  prohibited, 

1  Vide  "Works,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  173,  ed.  Keble. 


173 


Westminster  Sermons 

and  this  not  occasionally  but  constantly,  not  locally  but 
universally  ?  We  must  answer  that  when  fraternity 
failed  among  Christians,  the  true  and  only  effective 
check  on  rabbinism  ceased  to  operate,  and  the  course 
was  clear  for  the  normal  developments  of  professionalism. 
The  rabbinic  pretensions  of  Christian  teachers  have  their 
strength,  and  to  some  extent  their  excuse,  in  the  prac- 
tical disappearance  of  the  true  conception  of  the 
Christian  Church  as  the  family  of  God.  "  All  ye  are 
brethren,"  said  Christ  to  His  disciples,  and,  indeed,  the 
tender  designation  has  lingered  in  the  sanctuary  even 
to  the  present  hour  ;  but  of  fraternity  among  Christians 
as  such,  judge  you,  who  know  yourselves  and  the  world 
about  you,  how  much  survives  beyond  the  phrases  ? 
Loss  of  fraternity  has  involved  loss  of  religious  interest, 
and  in  due  course  lack  of  religious  knowledge.  Forgive 
me,  if  I  speak  more  directly  of  the  case  of  the  Church 
of  England,  the  most  decorous  and  the  least  fraternal 
of  all  Christian  churches.  Our  Anglican  laity  seem  to 
be  acquiescing  easily  in  their  exclusion  from  doctrinal 
discussions  :  they  will  leave  theology  to  the  clergy,  they 
say,  and  indeed,  they  know  too  little  about  the  questions 
in  debate  to  make  their  entrance  into  it  serviceable. 
So  the  sinful  apathy  and  self-imposed  ignorance  are 
decently  screened  from  detection  by  the  appearances 
of  a  reasonable  modesty.  There  is  good  reason  for 
dwelling  on  these  matters  at  this  time.  In  certain 
quarters  there  is  great  activity  and  enthusiasm  directed 
towards  a  reorganization  of  the  national  Church, 
designed  to  remove  the  many  anomalies  of  the  present 
system,  and  to  conform  it  to  the  normal  type  of  an 
autonomous  denomination.    On  that  project  I  desire 

174 


Rabbinism  and  Fraternity 

to  pass  no  opinion  save  this  :  that  in  the  present  state 
of  religious  indifference  among  the  laity,  the  most 
favourable  condition  conceivable  is  provided  for  the 
triumph  of  the  rabbinical  spirit  among  us.  The  Church 
of  England  wants — never  more  than  now — the  sane, 
just,  reasonable  attitude  of  mind,  which  specialism  and 
spiritual  office,  for  quite  intelligible  reasons,  do  not  tend 
to  develop,  and  which  a  religious  laity,  interested  in 
religion,  instructed  in  their  faith,  accustomed  to  think 
freely  and  to  speak  frankly,  would  seem  peculiarly  well 
suited  to  provide.  Church  reorganization  in  the  exist- 
ing state  of  feeling  can  hardly  fail  to  be  mischievous; 
in  an  atmosphere  of  fraternity  in  which  the  Lordship 
of  the  living  Christ  was  realized  and,  as  flowing  from 
that  fundamental  fact,  the  true  spiritual  equality  of  all 
disciples  was  frankly  admitted,  the  reorganization  of 
the  Church  of  England  might  be  as  life  from  the  dead. 
"  We  know,"  said  S.  John,  "  that  we  have  passed  out 
of  death  into  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren." 
"  One  is  your  teacher  "  says  the  Lord,  "  and  all  ye  are 
brethren." 


175 


XIII 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH1 

THERE  IS  ONE  BODY,  AND  ONE  SPIRIT,  EVEN  AS  ALSO  YE  WERE 
CALLED  IN  ONE  HOPE  OF  YOUR  CALLING;  ONE  LORD,  ONE  FAITH, 
ONE  BAPTISM,  ONE  GOD  AND  FATHER  OF  ALL,  WHO  IS  OVER  ALL, 
AND  THROUGH  ALL,  AND  IN  ALL. — EPHESIANS  IV.  4. 

I.  By  an  unusual  coincidence  these  words  are  pressed 
on  our  attention  to-day  in  a  very  special  degree,  for 
they  form  part  of  the  second  lesson,  and  are  read  again 
in  the  epistle  for  the  day.  The  English  preacher  is 
not  required,  as  his  Lutheran  brother,  to  take  the  text 
of  his  sermon  from  the  epistle  or  gospel  for  the  day,  but 
the  advantages  of  connecting  the  preaching  with  the 
lections  of  scripture  are  so  evident  and  strong,  that  a 
very  general  voluntary  practice  of  doing  so  has  grown 
up  among  us.  I  shall  follow  the  Lutheran  rule  and  the 
Anglican  custom  this  morning  with  the  more  willing- 
ness since  the  subject  brought  before  us  is  one  always 
greatly  important,  and  at  the  present  time  of  manifest 
and  considerable  urgency.  The  unity  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  its  nature,  evidence,  and  effect,  the  causes 
which  have  obscured  it,  and  the  obligations  which  it 
entails  on  the  individual  Christian,  these  are  themes 
of  so  much  interest  and  importance,  and  have  been  so 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  the  17th  Sunday 
after  Trinity,  October  3,  1909. 

176 


The  Unity  of  the  Church 

eagerly  debated  in  the  past,  and  are  so  much  discussed 
at  present,  that  it  may  well  seem  a  venturous  and  even 
futile  project  to  gather  them  into  the  subject  of  a  short 
sermon  ;  nevertheless,  I  shall  hope  to  be  able,  with  the 
assistance  of  your  close  attention,  to  indicate  so  much 
as  will  suffice  for  our  thinking  to-day. 

2.  It  might  pass  without  argument  that  if  Christianity 
be  truly  a  religion,  then  there  must  be  some  invariable 
signs  which  always  and  everywhere  are  observable  in 
its  professors,  by  which  they  can  be  securely  identified, 
and  apart  from  which  they  cannot  be  acknowledged 
to  have  any  right  to  be  regarded  as  Christians.  This 
is  certainly  true  of  ever}'  other  religion  ;  it  cannot 
but  be  also  true  of  the  religion  of  Christ.  What  are 
those  invariable  and  unerring  signs  ?  How  can  we  be 
sure  that  we  are  ourselves  entitled  to  bear  the  "  honour- 
able name "  of  Christian  ?  and  how  shall  the  non- 
Christian  world  be  able  to  identify  us  ?  I  do  not  think 
it  is  worth  while  to  distinguish  between  the  two 
inquiries,  that  which  determines  our  own  right,  and 
that  which  determines  our  recognition  by  others,  for  it 
may  be  taken  for  granted  that  we  shall  all  agree  that 
the  hypocritical  claimant  to  the  Christian  name  may  be 
left  out  of  count.  He  may,  indeed,  impose  on  himself, 
and  he  may  for  awhile  impose  on  others,  but  this 
imposition  is  rarely  unsuspected,  and  need  not  engage 
us  now.  We  wish  to  know  what  are  the  marks  of  a 
genuine  Christian,  and  the  non-Christian  world  wishes 
the  same. 

3.  The  form  in  which  these  inquiries  have  come  down 
to  us  is  that  which  we  know  so  well  in  religious 
controversy.     What  are  the  marks  or  notes  of  the  true 

177  M 


Westminster  Sermons 

Church  ?  Every  denomination  has  perforce  to  strike 
out  for  itself  some  definition  of  the  Church  which  shall 
at  once  satisfy  the  reason  and  justify  the  practice  of  its 
members.  These  definitions,  however,  are  always  ex 
post  facto  descriptions,  and  have  their  explanations 
rather  in  the  circumstances  than  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  make  them.  Their  interest  and  importance  is 
rather  apologetic  than  didactic.  Accordingly,  we  do 
not  obtain  much  help  from  them.  It  is  as  if  we  were 
asked  to  accept  as  a  definition  of  a  river  some  descrip- 
tion of  it  which  happened  to  be  true  of  a  particular 
river  at  a  particular  time  and  place.  A  river  is  a 
political  boundary,  or  a  highway  of  commerce,  or  a 
necessity  of  agriculture,  or  an  object  of  religious 
veneration.  Every  one  of  these  is  descriptive  of  some 
particular  river,  but  none  of  them  is  necessarily  true  of 
any.  What  would  be  thought  of  the  man  who  offered 
any  or  all  of  them  as  defining  what  a  river  is  ?  This 
may  seem  an  extravagant  illustration,  yet  it  is  the 
simple  truth,  that  the  formal  definitions  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  present  precisely  the  same  confusion  of 
essence  and  attributes,  the  same  identification  of 
permanent  and  variable  factors.  So,  then,  when  we 
would  know  what  are  the  marks  of  the  Christian 
Church,  we  must  be  vigilant  against  this  error ;  and, 
therefore,  we  must  be  careful  to  mount  the  stream  of 
history  until  we  get  past  the  distractions  of  ecclesiastical 
conflict,  and  have  reached  the  sources  in  the  New 
Testament.  Our  definition  of  the  Church  must  be  taken 
from  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  His  apostles,  and  our 
criterion  of  Christianity  must  be  discovered  nowhere 
else.    Christian  experience,  which  in  certain  directions 

178 


The  Unity  of  the  Church 

may  be  fairly  said  to  have  found  expression  in  ecclesi- 
astical history,  will  provide  the  tests  of  the  theory  which 
from  the  New  Testament  we  shall  have  framed.  There 
we  shall  find  the  actual  applications  of  the  teaching  of 
the  Lord  and  His  apostles,  and  we  shall  marvel  at  the 
immense  and  bewildering  perversions  of  the  primitive 
gospel. 

4.  The  first  and  perhaps  the  most  important  contrast 
between  the  unity  of  the  Church  as  declared  or  implied 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  that  unity  as  defined  by 
the  churches  from  time  to  time,  is  that  which  most 
easily  eludes  the  modern  inquirer.  We  may  state  it 
in  many  ways,  but  for  my  present  purpose  it  may 
suffice  to  say  that  whereas  the  New  Testament  makes 
ecclesiastical  membership  grow  out  of  a  spiritual  rela- 
tionship to  Christ,  the  churches  have  mostly  reversed 
that  order,  and  now  make  spiritual  relationship  to 
Christ  grow  out  of  ecclesiastical  membership. 

Christ  called  men  to  be  his  disciples,  and  then  taught 
them  that  as  His  disciples  they  were  linked  together  as 
brethren.  The  unity  of  the  "  flock  "  depended  on,  and 
was  involved  in  the  unity  of  the  "  shepherd "  :  in 
following  Him,  they  were  drawn  together,  and  set  to 
walk  in  one  direction.  The  metaphor  of  course  failed 
to  convey  the  full  teaching,  for  sheep  follow  a  shepherd 
in  the  simplest  way,  without  understanding  or  sharing 
his  intentions,  and  nowise  having  any  sympathy  with 
his  purpose  ;  but  disciples  follow  their  teacher  pre- 
cisely because  they  are  dimly  discerning  his  objects, 
and  entering  sympathetically  into  his  mind  ;  and  their 
obedience  involves  an  advance  in  knowledge,  and  a  pro- 
gressive conformity.    "  One  is  your  teacher,  even  the 

179  M  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


Christ ;  and  all  ye  are  brethren."  Fraternity  is  latent 
in  discipleship,  and  must  reveal  itself  in  presence  of 
disciples ;  for  discipleship  implies  a  true  moral  con- 
gruity  with  Christ,  and  finds  itself  naturally  drawn 
towards  the  "  mind  of  Christ "  in  every  Christian. 
Accordingly  it  has  been  ever  observed,  that  the  better 
Christians  rise  above  their  ecclesiastical  theories,  and  in 
spite  of  them  recognize,  even  in  those  whom  theory 
pronounces  accursed,  a  common  Christianity  of  sincere 
discipleship  which  makes  them  spiritually  one  with  them- 
selves. There  is  a  pleasing  story  of  the  conduct  of  a 
Roman  Catholic  priest  in  Ireland  who,  when  the  saintly 
Protestant  Bishop  of  Kilmore,  William  Bedell,  was 
buried  in  1642,  attended  the  funeral,  and  exclaimed, 
"O  that  my  spirit  might  be  with  his!"  Even  the 
fierce  conflicts  of  that  cruel  age,  and  the  immediate 
inflammations  which  then  made  life  in  Ireland  almost 
unendurable,  could  not  destroy  the  witness  of  his  spirit 
to  the  essential  Christianity  of  an  alien  and  a  heretic. 
The  scandalous  combination  of  fraternal  language  and 
persecuting  violence,  which  has  marked  the  record  of 
the  Christian  Church  from  the  first,  is  not  altogether 
to  be  explained  as  an  evidence  of  extreme  and  almost 
grotesque  hypocrisy,  but  rather  discloses  the  helpless- 
ness of  good  men,  distracted  by  a  conflict  between 
their  rigorous  theories  and  their  insistent  convictions, 
between  the  supposed  demands  of  right  belief  and  the 
clear  testimony  of  the  Christian  conscience. 

5.  The  New  Testament  not  only  makes  discipleship 
the  basis  of  ecclesiastical  membership,  but  teaches  that 
ecclesiastical  membership  is  implicitly  in  discipleship. 
In  the  great   and  continuing  conflict  between  the 

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The  Unity  of  the  Church 

conceptions  of  Christianity,  which  might  be  conveniently 
called  respectively  Catholic  and  Protestant,  though  they 
are  really  coseval  with  the  Christian  Church,  the  truth 
seems  to  lie  with  neither,  or  rather  to  be  partially  held 
by  both.    The  Catholic  is  wrong  in  placing  the  essence 
of  Christianity  in  an  ecclesiastical  membership.  The 
order  of  history  is  the  order  of  spiritual  experience 
always,  first  that  personal   relationship  towards  the 
Lord  which  makes  men  disciples,  next  that  confession 
of  it  which  labels  men  as  members  of  the  Christian 
society.     It  is  only  by  a  charitable  fiction  that  the 
unconscious  infant,  or  the  unconverted  professor,  is 
styled  a  Christian.    We  hope  that  in  process  of  time 
discipleship  will  pour  reality  into  the  infant's  Christian 
claim,  and  transform  the  professor's  religion  from  a 
barren  pretence  to  a  living  faith,  but  we  may  not 
deceive  ourselves  as  to  the  present  unreality  of  both. 
"  If  any  man  hath  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none 
of  His."     The    Protestant,  hardly  less  disastrously, 
tends  to  forget  that  though  discipleship  and  ecclesias- 
tical membership  may  be  severed,  yet  the  normal  and 
all  but  inevitable  implication  of  discipleship  is  member- 
ship of  the  visible  society  of  Christians,  and  that  few 
more  spiritually  perilous  situations  can  be  imagined 
than  that  in  which  the  disciple  attempts  to  live  in  isola- 
tion from  his  fellow  believers. 

6.  Discipleship,  in  point  of  fact,  uttering  itself  spon- 
taneously in  fraternity,  created  a  visible  and  organized 
society.  The  "  brethren  "  for  their  mutual  edification, 
and  for  the  fulfilment  of  their  common  obligation  as 
"  disciples "  to  evangelize  mankind,  constructed  a 
system  of  religious  government,  which  became  to  them 

i8t 


Westminster  Sermons 


the  symbol  of  their  unity  as  well  as  the  ordinary  instru- 
ment of  their  witness.  But  these  descriptions  were 
merged  in  a  higher  character.  The  New  Testament 
teaches  plainly  that  the  united  action  of  the  first 
believers  was  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  His 
will  was  disclosed  by  their  decisions,  that  His  power 
went  along  with  their  efforts.  The  emergence  of  the 
Christian  society  on  to  the  arena  of  history  is  repre- 
sented as  accompanied  by  conspicuous,  amazing,  and 
effectual  tokens  of  the  divine  approbation  ;  and  the 
Day  of  Pentecost,  which  witnessed  the  birth  of  the 
Church,  is  celebrated  as  the  festival  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  abolition  of  those  natural  and  historic  dis- 
tinctions, which  are  the  occasions  and  entrenchments 
of  human  separatism,  was  stamped  on  the  Christian 
society  from  the  first.  Whatever  unity  that  was  which 
should  hold  together  the  followers  of  Christ,  would  not 
be  identical  with  the  familiar  unities  of  experience. 
National  privilege  lost  its  meaning  when  men  heard 
in  their  own  tongues  "  the  mighty  works  of  God." 
Sacerdotalism,  the  sacred  rights  of  hierarchies,  perished 
when  the  whole  company  of  120  disciples,  apostles 
and  humbler  followers  of  the  Lord,  men  and  women 
together,  "  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
began  to  speak  with  other  tongues,  as  the  Spirit  gave 
them  utterance."  The  Christian  Church,  according 
to  the  New  Testament,  is  a  society  of  disciples,  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  organized  for  edification  and  witness, 
forming  a  genuine  democracy,  and  having  within  it  no 
priestly  class. 

7.  In  the  New  Testament  we  may  see  how  difficult 
it  was  to  maintain  this  conception  of  the  Church  against 

182 


The  Unity  of  the  Church 

the  deeply  ingrained  notions  of  the  age.  S.  Paul  had 
to  do  battle  with  the  nationalist  prejudice  of  the  Jews, 
and  the  superstition  of  the  Gentiles.  This  epistle  to 
the  Ephesians  is  a  noble  exposition  of  the  unity  of  the 
Church  against  the  former.  The  gist  of  the  argument  is 
in  the  contrast  between  the  state  of  the  world  before 
and  since  the  mission  of  Christ.  Between  the  chosen 
race  and  the  rest  of  mankind  there  had  been  the  barrier 
of  an  exclusive  religious  claim.  The  privilege  of  Israel 
was  forced  with  a  crude  emphasis  and  a  cruel  insistence 
on  the  notice  of  every  one  who  approached  the  central 
shrine  of  Israel's  worship.  No  less  a  penalty  than 
death  was  pronounced  on  the  Gentile  who  should 
venture  to  cross  from  the  outer  to  the  inner  court  of 
the  temple,  from  the  place  reserved  for  the  religious 
Gentile  to  that  which  belonged  to  the  born  Israelite. 
"  But  now,"  writes  the  apostle,  "  in  Christ  Jesus  ye 
that  once  were  far  off  are  made  nigh  in  the  blood  of 
Christ,  for  He  is  our  peace,  who  made  both  one,  and 
brake  down  the  middle  wall  of  partition  .  .  .  that 
He  might  create  in  Himself  of  the  twain  one  new  man, 
so  making  peace  ;  and  might  reconcile  them  both  in 
one  body  unto  God  through  the  cross,  having  slain  the 
enmity  thereby ;  and  He  came  and  preached  peace  to 
you  that  were  far  off,  and  peace  to  them  that  were 
nigh  :  for  through  Him  we  both  have  our  access  in  one 
spirit  unto  the  Father."  There  is  a  subtle  interplay  of 
suggestions  in  the  use  of  the  word  "  body,"  for  some- 
times the  thought  is  that  of  the  unifying  energy  of  the 
divine  Spirit  within  the  Church,  which  the  apostle 
compares  to  the  vital  unity  of  organic  life  uttering  itself 
in  manifoldness  of  physical  structure  and  variety  of 

183 


Westminster  Sermons 


natural  function,  and  sometimes  the  thought  rests  on 
that  crucified  body  of  the  Lord,  nailed  to  the  cross  of 
Calvary,  which  was  the  historic  instrument  by  which 
the  deeper  unity  of  the  spirit  had  been  revealed  to  men, 
and  through  which  as  by  a  supreme  and  conquering 
force  the  ancient  strifes  of  the  world  were  being  hushed 
into  tranquillity.  The  body  of  humiliation  in  which  the 
Redeemer  "  became  a  curse  for  us,"  and  "  the  body  of 
His  glory,"  to  which  the  faithful  look  to  be  finally 
"  conformed,"  are  scarcely  distinguished  in  the  argu- 
ment from  that  mystical  "  body  "  of  Christ  into  which 
all  Christians  are  baptized.  We  do  not  rightly  take  the 
meaning  of  the  apostle  unless  we  carry  into  our  reading 
of  his  words  all  these  separate  but  related  senses. 

8.  Finally,  the  New  Testament  teaches  us  that  the 
Holy  Communion  is  designed  to  express  and  secure  the 
unity  of  the  body.  There  is,  for  intelligible  reasons, 
very  little  sacramental  teaching  in  the  New  Testament, 
but  this  adds  the  greater  importance  to  what  teaching 
there  is.  It  is  mostly  found  in  the  first  epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  and  there  it  is  concerned  with  two  points. 
S.  Paul  has  to  rebuke  two  misconceptions  about  the 
Lord's  Supper.  First,  he  tells  the  Corinthians  that  the 
receiving  of  the  Holy  Communion  implies  an  exclusive 
religious  allegiance,  which  utters  itself  pre-eminently  in 
good  living.  Next,  he  tells  them  that  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  the  divinely  appointed  symbol  of  fraternity, 
and  is  profaned  by  whatsoever  conduct  does  violence  to 
the  fraternal  relationship.  Both  lessons  are  by  the 
apostle  bound  up  with  the  aspect  of  the  sacrament  as  a 
commemoration  of  the  death  of  Christ,  which  may  be  said 
to  be  primary.    The  intermingling  of  suggestions  in  his 

184 


The  Unity  of  the  Church 

language  is  nowhere  more  evident,  and  we  may  add 
nowhere  more  important.  When  the  apostle  writes  the 
solemn  sentence  which  casts  on  us  as  we  hear  it  so  deep 
a  shadow  of  anxiety — "  He  that  eateth  and  drinketh, 
eateth  and  drinketh  judgment  unto  himself,  if  he  discern 
not  the  body" — we  muSt  carry  in  our  minds  the  triple 
suggestion  of  the  crucifixion,  which  we  commemorate, 
the  life  of  divine  glory  which  we  acknowledge,  the 
fellowship  in  the  mystical  body  which  we  declare. 
Memory,  worship,  membership  meet  in  the  Holy  Com- 
munion. Accordingly,  the  Church  of  England  makes  no 
parade  of  ecclesiastical  claim  when  the  Holy  Communion 
is  in  question.  It  is  "the  Lord's  Supper,"  not  ours ; 
and  we  cannot,  we  may  not,  banish  from  the  Lord's 
table  those  who  are  indeed  the  Lord's. 

9.  On  this  thought  we  may  fitly  conclude  a  sermon 
which  is  to  be  followed  by  the  Holy  Communion.  To 
the  Lord's  table  it  is  my  high  privilege  to  invite  the 
Lord's  people,  as  such,  banishing  here  from  mind  any 
lesser  description,  and  praying  them  to  realize  what 
that  description  implies.  In  a  distracted  and  selfish 
generation,  which  has  lost  sight  of  the  greater  visions 
of  duty  and  destiny,  and  fills  itself  with  the  poor  little 
sordid  excitements  of  the  hour,  the  Lord's  people  are 
they  who  are  set  on  following  One,  who  passed  on  the 
earth  as  a  visionary  and  a  martyr,  and  left  behind  Him 
no  memorial  save  the  cross,  and  its  lessons.  From  the 
secular  conflict,  in  which  men  strive  for  the  bread 
which  perisheth,  and  sell  themselves  for  gain,  the 
Lord's  people  draw  aside  "  from  the  strife  of  tongues 
and  the  tumult  of  the  city  "  to  vindicate  and  renew 
their  hold  on  the  eternal  things  of  the  Spirit,  for  which 

185 


Westminster  Sermons 


He  bore  witness  even  to  death.  Here  we  would  seek  for 
the  power  of  the  higher  life,  the  life  of  faith  which  fulfils 
the  paradox  of  the  saints,  who  endured  as  "  seeing  Him 
who  is  invisible,"  and  carries  the  conquering  power  of 
the  risen  Christ  into  the  daily  passion  of  the  world. 
Here  we  would  approach,  as  penitents,  the  throne  of 
His  mercy,  who  can  forgive  all  because  He  knows  all, 
and  whose  right  to  absolve  is  built  on  His  community 
with  us  in  the  mystery  of  temptation.  Here  we  would 
find  again  the  lost  connections  of  the  Spirit,  and  weave 
anew  the  broken  links  of  charity,  because  here  nought 
may  come  between  us  and  Him  ;  and  His  love  supremely 
shown  on  Calvary  can  bear  upon  us  with  fresh  power 
in  this  commemoration,  and  "  constrain  us  "  to  the  life  of 
love.  For  here,  surely,  He  fulfils  His  pledge  that 
"  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  His  name 
He  is  in  the  midst  of  them,"  and  here  "  in  His  presence 
there  is  fulness  of  joy." 

"  Jesus,  Thou  Joy  of  loving  hearts, 

Thou  Fount  of  life,  Thou  Light  of  men, 
From  the  best  bliss  that  earth  imparts 
We  turn  unfilled  to  Thee  again." 


186 


XIV 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  SPIRIT1 

GIVING  DILIGENCE  1 0  KEEP  THE  UNITY  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IN  THE 
BOND  OF  PEACE. — EPHESIANS  iv.  3. 

The  Christian  Church  did  not  recognize  distinctions 
of  race,  but  the  unity  of  races  within  the  household  of 
faith  was  not  easily  secured,  or  maintained  without 
effort.  Privilege  dies  hard,  and  religious  privilege 
hardest  of  all.  The  New  Testament  discloses  a  period 
of  conflict  in  which  the  most  impressive  and  heroic 
figure  is  that  of  S.  Paul,  and  the  subject  of  strife  was 
precisely  the  survival  of  Jewish  privileges  in  the 
Christian  Church.  Thus,  we  are  to  keep  this  reference 
before  our  minds  when  we  read  of  unity  in  S.  Paul's 
epistles.  He  is  ever  thinking  first  of  that  equality  of 
nationalities  which  offended  his  believing  countrymen 
so  deeply,  and  which  was  to  him  the  great  "  mystery  " 
of  divine  grace. 

We  may  observe  a  singular  fitness  in  the  description 
of  such  unity  as  in  a  special  sense  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Historically  it  was  nothing  else.  The 
cancelling  of  Jewish  privilege  had  been  brought  home 
to  the  Jewish  apostles  by  the  outpouring  on  all  disciples, 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  the  17th  Sunday 
after  Trinity,  October  3,  1909. 

187 


Westminster  Sermons 


Gentles  no  less  than  Jews,  of  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit. 
This  was  the  argument  which  convinced  S.  Peter  that 
Gentiles  were  fit  subjects  for  Christian  baptism.  "  Can 
any  man  forbid  the  water  that  these  should  not  be 
baptized,  which  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well 
as  we  ?  "  asked  the  reverent  and  candid  apostle  when  he 
heard  Cornelius  and  his  friends  "  speak  with  tongues 
and  magnify  God."  The  unity  of  Jews  and  Gentiles 
within  the  "one  body"  of  the  Christian  Church  was 
"  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,"  for  only  the  visible  action  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  had  secured  its  recognition.  But  there 
is  a  deeper  sense  of  the  phrase.  What  is  the  unifying 
principle  in  the  various  crowd  of  disciples,  differing  so 
widely  in  race,  language,  degree  of  civilization,  inherited 
customs,  natural  aptitude  ?  All  these  distinctions 
unquestionably  continue,  and  find  expression  within 
the  Church.  They  retain  so  much  vigour  there  that 
the  most  earnest  and  long-continued  efforts  of  Church 
rulers  to  extinguish  them  meet  with  very  little  success. 
The  distracted  and  divided  state  of  Christendom  after 
so  many  centuries  proves  the  strength  of  the  old  natural 
divisions.  External  systems  of  faith  and  order  are  too 
weak  to  crush  out  nationality  and  temperament.  These 
mould  the  religion  which  they  accept  almost  as  much 
as  the  religion  moulds  them.  It  is  a  curiously  suggestive 
fact  that  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  mainly 
followed  the  line  of  Roman  civilization.  Outside  the 
Roman  empire,  in  the  Teutonic  and  Scandinavian 
countries,  Protestantism  prevailed ;  inside  the  Roman 
empire,  among  the  Latins  and  Celts,  the  Roman 
Church  held  its  own. 

It  is  manifest  that  there  is  a  real  connection  between 

188 


The  Unity  of  the  Spirit 

the  races  and  the  forms  of  Christianity  which  they 
adopt.  Similarly  in  the  Teutonic  world,  and  notably 
in  the  Anglo-Saxon  dispersion,  there  is  an  apparent 
connection  between  the  denominations  and  the  social 
grades  of  the  people.  There  must  be  some  strong  and 
subtle  affinity  between  the  religious  system  and  the 
mental  aptitudes  of  the  social  grade  which  affects  it. 
We  might  push  the  same  inquiry  into  the  case  of 
individuals.  Natural  temperament  is  not  extinguished 
or  transfigured  by  Christianity.  Individuals  retain 
their  preferences,  and  seek  edification  in  different  ways 
according  to  the  type  of  their  minds  and  the  custom  of 
their  lives.  Clearly  then  there  must  be  some  unifying 
principle  which  can  persist  through  all  varieties  of 
nationality,  social  type,  and  individual  description,  if 
the  Christian  Church  which  presents  so  bewildering 
a  variety  can  really  be  said  to  have  any  true  unity 
at  all. 

In  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  S.  Paul 
speaks  at  some  length  of  the  Christian  society  under 
the  metaphor,  which  he  had  borrowed  from  the  stoics, 
of  the  human  body.  His  point  was  that  diversity  is 
not  only  not  inconsistent  with  unity,  but  even  ministers 
to  it.  The  unity  of  the  physical  body  does  not  consist 
in  an  absence  of  all  distinctiveness  of  function  and 
variety  of  parts,  but  in  a  common  life  which  circulates 
throughout  the  whole  enabling  all  functions  and 
vitalizing  all  parts.  From  this  natural  and  salutary 
co-operation  and  co-ordination  of  parts  are  derived  the 
beauty  and  serviceableness  of  the  whole.  A  conflict  of 
interests  or  a  rivalry  of  functions  is  absurd.  "  God 
tempered  the  body  together,  that  there  should  be  no 

189 


Westminster  Sermons 


schism  in  the  body  :  but  that  the  members  should  have 
the  same  care  one  for  another.  And  whether  one 
member  suffereth,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it :  or 
one  member  is  honoured,  all  the  members  rejoice  with 
it.  Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  severally 
members  thereof."  The  vitalizing  principle  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  its  diffused  life,  is  the  Holy  Spirit — 
"  For  in  one  spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into  one  body, 
whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or  free :  and 
were  all  made  to  drink  of  one  spirit."  It  is  impossible, 
I  think,  not  to  recognize  in  the  last  phrase  a  reference 
to  the  Holy  Communion.  The  two  sacraments  are  the 
visible  channels  through  which  this  divine  life  is  ever 
passing  into  the  Christian  society. 

There  is  little  danger  for  most  of  us  in  the  old 
devotion  to  national  religious  privilege,  for  no  modern 
nation  can  pretend  to  any  respectable  title  to  exceptional 
advantages  by  divine  appointment,  as  the  Jews  in  the 
time  of  S.  Paul  were  able  to  do.  I  am  not  indeed  quite 
sure  whether  there  is  not  a  recrudescence  of  this 
privileged  temper  in  the  language  one  sometimes  hears 
on  the  subject  of  foreign  missions,  language  which 
seems  to  imply  that  those  who  use  it  think  that  Christ's 
religion  is  a  peculiar  possession  of  the  white  races, 
and  should  not  be  carried  to  the  other  races  of  mankind  ; 
but  I  apprehend  that  most  of  those,  who  allow  them- 
selves to  speak  thus  slightingly  of  missions  to  the 
Asiatics  and  Africans,  do  not  think  very  deeply,  and 
would  perhaps  be  surprised  if  they  were  able  to  perceive 
the  true  meaning  of  what  they  say.  Nor,  perhaps,  are 
most  English  people  much  disposed  to  adopt  exclusive 
ecclesiastical   doctrines,   for  indeed   in   view  of  our 

190 


The  Unity  of  the  Spirit 

religious  history,  and  the  actual  circumstances  of 
religion  among  us,  such  doctrines  have  an  arbitrary  and 
even  grotesque  appearance. 

There  is,  however,  grave  danger  that  we  shall  fall 
into  the  schismatical  temper  by  an  exaggerated  devotion 
to  our  own  denomination  ;  and,  while  verbally  acknow- 
ledging the  common  Christianity  of  all  the  denomina- 
tions— an  acknowledgment  which  is  easily  made  when 
it  is  intended  to  lead  to  no  practical  results — shall 
practically  live  as  if  our  denomination  were  the  whole 
Church  of  Christ.  The  multiplication  of  denominations 
is  not  perhaps  necessarily  incompatible  with  a  true 
recognition  of  the  "  unity  of  the  Spirit,"  but  certainly 
it  makes  that  recognition  immensely  more  difficult, 
and  induces  many  evils  of  magnitude.  The  waste  of 
resources,  the  degradation  of  religious  methods  by  the 
stringent  coercion  of  financial  exigency,  the  scandal  of 
denominational  rivalry,  the  stumbling-block  created  by 
the  unlovely  spectacle  of  chronic  Christian  controversy — 
all  these  are  consequences  of  that  multiplication  of 
denominations  which  is  the  salient  feature  of  religion  in 
the  English-speaking  world.  Apart  altogether,  then, 
from  any  ecclesiastical  theory,  and  conceding  the  right 
of  the  individual  to  push  his  private  judgment  to  the 
utmost  which  reason  could  demand  or  charity 
permit,  we  may  point  to  these  results  of  denomina- 
tionalism  as  raising  a  very  urgent  and  solemn  question 
for  the  disciple  of  Christ,  who,  whatever  his  denomina- 
tional description  may  be,  believes  that  he  is  before  all 
things  bound  "  to  give  diligence  to  keep  the  unity  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 

The  phrase  of  S.  Paul — "  Giving  diligence  to  keep  " 

191 


Westminster  Sermons 


— suggests  that  the  task  will  not  always  be  easy.  There 
are  factors  of  human  nature  itself  which  are  unfriendly 
to  "the  unity  of  the  Spirit,"  and  we  shall  often  find 
ourselves  tempted  to  break  away  from  the  fellowship  of 
our  brethren.  We  all  like  to  have  our  own  way  in  the 
Church,  as  elsewhere  ;  yet  it  is  never  rightly  possible 
for  us  to  have  everything  as  we  like ;  and  often  our 
own  way  is  not  the  way  of  justice,  or  wisdom,  or 
charity.  Self-suppression  is  more  often  than  not  the 
demand  of  duty ;  self-assertion  is  never  unbiassed,  and 
often  is  disastrously  selfish.  The  middle  way  between 
a  cowardly  complaisance  and  a  disinterested  independ- 
ence is  often  hard  to  find,  and  always  hard  to  keep. 
It  is  easy  to  go  with  the  multitude  ;  easy,  albeit  perhaps 
not  so  easy,  to  go  one's  own  way.  "  To  keep  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  "  is  never  easy. 

The  apostle  in  the  context  indicates  the  modes  by 
which  the  Christian  shall  be  able  to  carry  out  his 
difficult  duty.  As  is  his  custom  when  deeply  moved, 
he  casts  his  exhortation  into  the  form  of  a  pathetic 
personal  appeal  :  "  I  therefore,  the  prisoner  in  the 
Lord,  beseech  you  to  walk  worthily  of  the  calling 
wherewith  ye  were  called,  with  all  lowliness  and  meek- 
ness, with  long  suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in 
love  ;  giving  diligence  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace." 

He  sets  in  their  true  order  three  considerations  which 
the  Christian  is  to  keep  in  mind,  and  by  which  he  is  to 
determine  his  conduct.  First,  he  is  to  think  of  his  duty 
to  his  Master ;  next,  he  is  to  take  account  of  his  own 
faults ;  finally,  he  is  to  consider  the  claim  which  his 
brethren  in  Christ  have  upon  him.    Then  he  is  to  bring 


192 


The  Unity  of  the  Spirit 

all  these  into  relation  with  his  action  as  a  member  of 
the  "one  body."  With  these  held  steadily  in  mind 
he  is  not  likely  to  be  servile;  he  cannot  be  arrogant; 
he  dare  not  be  schismatical.  Let  us  pursue  these 
thoughts  a  little  further.  Our  first  duty  is  to  Christ, 
whose  name  we  bear.  No  considerations  of  personal 
interest,  no  demands  of  ecclesiastical  authority  can  be 
rightly  placed  in  competition  with  His  claim  upon  our 
obedience.  The  stern  words  of  absolute  and  exclusive 
right  which  stand  on  record  in  the  gospel  have  an 
abiding  validity,  which  we  may  never  forget  :  "  He 
that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  Me  is  not 
worthy  of  Me."  "  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon." 
This  primary  right  of  the  Master  to  the  disciple's 
obedience  will  be  universally  allowed,  but  the  inevitable 
question,  How  is  that  right  expressed  ?  will  be  variously 
answered.  Where  may  we  learn  Christ's  will  in  order 
that  we  may  fulfil  it  ?  Has  He  delegated  His  authority 
to  any  terrestrial  authority  ?  Has  He  set  forth  His 
laws  in  any  book  ?  There  are  many  Christians  who 
will  return  a  ready  affirmative  answer  to  one  or  other 
of  these  questions.  Obey  the  Church  and  you  obey 
Christ,  says  the  Roman  Catholic.  Obey  the  Bible  and 
you  obey  Christ,  says  the  Protestant.  But  what  if  the 
Church  command  that  which  outrages  the  conscience, 
or  does  violence  to  reason  ?  What  if  the  Bible  seem 
erroneous  or  self-contradictory  ?  Good  men  in  the 
past  have  been  confronted  with  both  these  contingencies, 
and  truly  the  problem  of  the  Christian's  duty  is  so 
difficult,  because  neither  Church  nor  Bible  has  been  able 
to  sustain  the  character  of  the  divinely  appointed 
exponent  of  Christ's  will  for  the  individual  believer's 


193 


Westminster  Sermons 


guidance.  Both  the  Church  and  the  Bible  must  justify 
themselves  to  the  Christian's  conscience  before  they 
can  serve  to  him  for  voices  of  Christ;  and  the  Christian's 
conscience  is  not  an  unassisted  or  uninspired  conscience, 
but  a  conscience  which  has  been  trained  in  the  school 
of  Christ,  and  is  responsive  to  the  approaches  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  S.  Paul  makes  all  turn  on  this  divine 
co-operation :  "Ye  are  not  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the 
spirit,  if  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you. 
But  if  any  man  hath  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none 
of  His."  The  claim  of  Christ  is  finally  certified  to  the 
Christian  by  his  own  conscience ;  andthat  inward  monitor 
will  be  trustworthy  if  it  be — what  truly  it  is  ordained  to 
be — the  ear  of  the  soul,  to  which  the  voice  of  the  Spirit 
can  speak,  and  by  which  that  voice  can  be  heard. 

"  Show  thou  me  the  way  that  I  should  walk  in  for  I  lift 
up  my  soul  unto  Thee  " — that  is  the  Christian's  prayer 
every  day  of  his  life  ;  and  if  he  do  but  live  in  the  temper 
of  his  prayer,  he  will  surely  be  ready  to  meet  the  crises 
of  his  life,  those  moments  when  he  must  take  a  decision 
of  importance,  perhaps  must  decide  whether  he  shall 
resist  the  authority  of  the  Church,  which  speaks,  and 
rightly  speaks,  in  Christ's  name.  "We  must  obey 
God  rather  than  men,"  said  S.  Peter  to  the  supreme 
ecclesiastical  authority  of  his  nation,  clothing  the  verdict 
of  his  own  conscience  with  the  supreme  and  absolute 
authority  of  God  H  imself .  That  declaration  stands  in  the 
record  of  mankind  as  the  revelation  ;  nd  vindication  of  the 
human  conscience.  The  very  mention  of  conscience 
makes  the  thoughtful  student  of  human  life  shake  his 
head.  What  follies  and  crimes,  have  been  excused  by 
that  plea  !    "  I  believe,"  said  South,  preaching  in  West- 

194 


The  Unity  of  the  Spirit 

minster  Abbey  on  November  5,  1663,  "  upon  a  due 
survey  of  history  it  will  be  found,  that  the  most  con- 
siderable villainies  which  were  ever  acted  upon  the 
stage  of  Christendom,  have  been  authorized  with  the 
glistering  pretences  of  conscience  and  the  introduction 
of  a  greater  purity  in  religion."  1  There  is  too  much 
truth  in  the  great  orator's  words  ;  and  therefore  there 
is  the  greater  need  of  that  "  lowliness  and  meekness 
with  longsuffering "  to  which  S.  Paul  calls  us.  A 
humble  estimate  of  ourselves  will  be  the  best  protection 
against  the  danger  that  a  sinful  self-assertion  shall 
masquerade  under  the  name  of  conscience.  When  we 
have  rigorously  canvassed  our  own  qualifications  for 
the  task  to  which  we  are  disposed  to  put  our  hands,  we 
shall  be  little  disposed  to  be  as  the  fools  "  who  rush  in 
where  angels  fear  to  tread."  Add  the  consideration  of 
others'  claims  upon  us,  "  forbearing  one  another  in 
love,"  and  we  reduce  to  vanishing  point  the  risks  of 
self-delusion.  Loyalty  to  Christ  speaking  within  our 
consciences,  self-judgment,  honest  and  flattering,  a 
fraternal  regard  for  our  fellow  Christians — do  but 
combine  these,  and  you  will  surely  "  keep  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 

It  may  indeed  be  the  case  that  even  so  we  shall  make 
mistakes;  for  God  has  not  willed  to  release  even  good- 
ness and  sincerity  from  the  limitations  of  nature  and  the 
disadvantages  of  circumstance  ;  but  we  shall  be  pre- 
served from  sin,  and  even  our  mistakes  will  be  made 
serviceable  to  the  divine  purpose  in  our  lives.  "  If  the 
readiness  is  there  it  is  acceptable  according  as  a  man 
hath,  not  according  as  he  hath  not." 

1  Vide  "  Works,"  iii.,  p.  189. 

195  N  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


"  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers :  for  they  shall  be 
called  sons  of  God,"  said  our  Master;  and,  if  indeed  we 
would  "  walk  worthily  of  the  calling  wherewith  we  are 
called,"  we  must  seek  to  possess  that  beatitude.  The 
opportunities  of  peacemaking  are  never  far  to  seek  in 
such  a  world  of  strife  as  this.  We  need  not  go  outside 
our  own  houses  for  them.  Within  the  family  circle 
there  is  need,  often  tragic  need,  of  the  "peacemaker." 
The  home,  which  should  be  the  scene  of  love  and 
service,  "  a  little  church  "  as  S.  Chrysostom  called  it, 
where  the  Father  in  Heaven  is  worshipped  with  the 
daily  oblations  of  domestic  affection  and  self-denial,  too 
often  is  a  school  of  mutual  hatred,  from  which  men  and 
women  go  out  into  the  world  with  hard  faces  and  bitter 
hearts.  In  that  school  the  evil  lessons  of  schism  are 
learned,  which  bear  their  calamitous  fruit  later  in  the 
nation,  and  in  the  Church.  Let  the  spirit  of  love, 
the  peace  of  Christ  which  passeth  all  understanding, 
reign  in  the  home,  and  its  blessed  influence  cannot  be 
therein  confined.  It  will  pass  out  into  the  world  with 
every  member  of  that  loving  household,  and  tell  for 
good  on  a  wide,  and  ever  widening,  area  of  social  life. 
This  service  to  Christ,  this  contribution  to  the  peace 
of  His  Church,  this  effort  to  hasten  His  kingdom,  we 
all  have  it  in  our  power  to  render.  None  is  too  old,  too 
young,  too  ignorant,  too  simple  for  this  most  holy  work. 
Christ's  beatitudes,  like  the  blessed  gifts  of  nature,  are 
within  the  reach  of  all,  for  all  can  "  keep  the  unity  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 


196 


XV 


THE  BIBLE1 

AND  DAVID  SAID,   THERE  IS   NONE   LIKE  THAT;  GIVE   IT  ME. 

I  SAMUEL  xxi.  9. 

David  was  a  fugitive  in  peril  of  his  life,  but  the  deadly 
hatred  of  King  Saul  was  as  yet  unsuspected  by  the 
people,  who  had  long  observed  the  conspicuous  favour 
with  which  the  king  had  treated  him.  Accordingly, 
when  he  came  to  the  priests  at  Nob,  and  claimed  their 
assistance  in  the  king's  name,  he  readily  obtained  his 
request.  He  was  in  desperate  need  both  of  food  and 
weapons,  and  there  was  none  of  either  with  the  priests 
save  what  was  treasured  within  the  sanctuary.  The 
"  holy  bread "  was  freely  given,  and  the  sword  of 
Goliath,  symbol  of  a  great  deliverance,  was  offered. 
"  The  priest  said,  the  sword  of  Goliath  the  Philistine, 
whom  thou  slewest  in  the  Vale  of  Elah,  behold,  it  is 
here  wrapped  in  a  cloth  behind  the  ephod.  If  thou 
wilt  take  that,  take  it :  for  there  is  none  other  save  that 
here.  And  David  said,  there  is  none  like  that :  give 
it  me." 

The  sword  of  Goliath  waked  memories  in  David's 
mind,  and  touched  springs  of  faith  and  courage.  It 

1  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  the  2nd  Sunday  in  Advent, 
December  6,  1908,  in  aid  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society. 


197 


Westminster  Sermons 


was  much  more  than  a  weapon  of  steel ;  it  was  a  divine 
sacrament  of  strength  and  hope.  The  God  who  had 
sustained  him  in  the  heroic  achievements  of  his  youth 
would  not  fail  him  now.  Here  was  the  demonstration 
of  Jehovah's  power  and  goodwill ;  with  that  in  his 
hands,  he  would  not  lose  heart.  We  catch  the  ring  of 
a  deep  emotion  in  the  fugitive's  words  :  "  There  is  none 
like  that  :  give  it  me." 

I  take  leave  to  separate  these  words  from  their 
historical  reference,  and  to  apply  them  to  the  case  for 
the  Bible,  which  it  is  my  duty  to  set  before  you  to-day. 
"  The  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  the  word  of  God,"  writes 
S.  Paul,  and  although  he  was  not  definitely  referring 
to  the  Bible,  he  certainly  would  have  included  the  Bible 
in  a  larger  reference.  There  is  risk  of  error  in  describ- 
ing the  Bible  as  itself  "  the  word  of  God,"  but  the 
description  has  ever  commended  itself  to  Christian 
people  because  in  the  Bible  that  divine  utterance  is 
treasured  as  nowhere  else.  In  our  time  considerable 
importance  attaches  to  the  distinction  between  the 
statement  that  the  Bible  contains  the  word  of  God, 
which  is  true,  and  the  statement  that  the  Bible  is  the 
word  of  God,  which  is  false.  Misled  by  their  own 
language,  men  have  been  carried  to  theories  of  inspira- 
tion and  authority  which  are  profoundly  irrational,  and 
have  induced  many  disasters.  The  Bible  has  been 
clothed  with  a  character  to  which  it  makes  no  claim, 
and  which  it  assuredly  does  not  possess.  The  scholars 
of  our  age  have  investigated  the  conditions  of  its  com- 
position, and  the  trustworthiness  of  its  records.  They 
have  brought  it  into  comparison  with  contemporary 
literature,  and  placed  it  alongside  a  whole  library  of 

198 


The  Bible 


sacred  writings.  We  see  now  that  the  books  which 
make  up  the  Bible  are  of  very  unequal  merit.  Some, 
like  the  writings  of  the  greater  prophets  and  psalmists, 
are  admittedly  the  most  precious  religious  possessions 
of  mankind  ;  others,  like  the  Books  of  Proverbs, 
Ecclesiastes,  and  Esther,  do  not  apparently  rise  to  the 
religious  level  of  many  uncanonical  compositions. 
Others,  again,  like  the  historical  books,  present  precisely 
the  same  characteristics  as  other  historical  books  belong- 
ing to  the  same  stages  of  literary  development.  Others, 
like  the  Books  of  Job  and  Jonah,  appear  to  be  of  the 
nature  of  dramatical  works  designed  with  a  moral. 
The  sharp  distinction  which  our  Protestant  forefathers 
drew  between  the  canonical  and  the  apocryphal  books 
is  seen  to  be  arbitrary,  and  the  list  of  apocryphal  books 
included  in  the  Roman  Catholic  canon  is  known  to  be 
defective.  Some  of  the  most  important  of  these  books — 
such,  for  instance,  as  most  of  those  which  are  called 
apocalyptic — have  only  been  recovered  within  recent 
years.  All  these  circumstances  have  undoubtedly 
worked  a  change,  I  had  almost  said  a  revolution,  in  our 
notions  about  the  Bible,  and  we  need  not  be  astonished 
that  many  good  and  devout  Christians  have  been 
greatly  alarmed,  and  disposed  to  refuse  acceptance  to 
the  newer  views  which  the  critics  and  historians  offer. 
This  attitude  of  mind,  however,  is  equally  mistaken  and 
unfortunate.  It  is  mistaken,  because  in  so  far  as  the 
new  views  express  facts  which  cannot  be  disputed,  they 
are  true  views,  and  to  reject  them  is  to  reject  truth  ;  it 
is  unfortunate  because  it  creates  difficulties  in  the  minds 
of  men  which  need  not  be  created,  and  sets  the  Bible 
forward  with  pretensions  which  cannot  be  sustained,  the 

199 


Westminster  Sermons 


failure  of  which  goes  far  to  indispose  men  to  accord  to 
the  scriptures  their  rightful  authority.  Happily  the 
Church  of  England  has  been  ever  distinguished  by  com- 
bining a  high  regard  for  the  Bible  with  a  singular 
moderation  in  its  formal  doctrine  with  respect  to  it.  If 
you  compare  the  two  Anglican  articles  which  treat  of 
of  holy  scripture  with  the  ten  articles  of  the  West- 
minster Confession,  which  deal  with  the  same  subject, 
you  perceive  at  once  the  wide  difference  between  the 
earlier  and  the  later  Protestant  doctrine  about  the 
Bible.  There  is  no  definition  of  inspiration  in  the 
English  formulary,  and  no  attempt  to  indicate  what 
precise  version  of  scripture  is  inspired.  In  the  Scotch 
formulary  there  is  both. 

"The  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew  (which  was  the  native  language 
of  the  people  of  God  of  old)  and  the  New  Testament  in  Greek 
(which  at  the  time  of  the  writing  of  it  was  most  generally  known  to 
the  nations),  being  immediately  inspired  by  God,  and  by  His  singular 
care  and  providence  kept  pure  in  all  ages,  and  therefore  authentical, 
so  as  in  all  controversies  of  religion,  the  Church  is  finally  to  appeal 
unto  them." 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  in  still  worse  plight, 
for  the  Council  of  Trent  declared  the  Latin  version, 
known  as  the  Vulgate,  to  be  itself  inspired ;  and  the 
late  Pope  in  his  encyclical  on  holy  scripture,  laid  it 
down  that  "  all  the  books  without  exception  which  the 
Church  has  received  as  sacred  and  canonical  in  all  their 
parts  have  been  written  under  the  dictation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

The  happy  moderation  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  has 
had  its  effect.  In  the  English  Church  since  its 
reformation  there  has  been  an  unfailing  succession  of 

200 


The  Bible 


great  divines,  who  have  jealously  guarded  the  Church 
against  the  danger  of  an  irrational  bibliolatry.  At 
intervals  there  have  been  episodes  of  panic  during 
which  an  outcry  has  been  raised  against  biblical 
scholars,  and  even  attempts  have  been  made  to  brand 
them  as  heretics  and  drive  them  from  the  ministry  of 
the  national  Church ;  but  these  episodes  are  as  brief  as 
they  are  violent,  and  within  a  short  time  the  genuinely 
tolerant  spirit  of  our  Church  reasserts  itself.  Nearly 
fifty  years  ago  the  religious  public  was  wildly  excited 
with  a  heresy  trial.  One  of  the  contributors  to  the 
volume,  "  Essays  and  Reviews,"  Dr.  Rowland 
Williams,  was  put  on  his  trial  by  his  bishop  for 
having  written  the  essay  which,  under  the  form  of  a 
review  of  Bunsen's  "  Biblical  Researches,"  dealt  with 
the  inspiration  and  authority  of  the  Bible.  The  most 
convincing  part  of  his  defence  was  that  which  appealed 
to  the  deliberate  reticence  of  the  English  formulary, 
and  to  the  large  liberty  actually  claimed  and  exercised 
by  the  most  illustrious  and  authoritative  English 
divines.  Sir  James  Stephen's  great  speech  for  the 
defence,  which  still  deserves  study  by  all  who  value 
English  liberty  and  can  appreciate  virile  reasoning, 
included  a  long  catena  of  quotations  from  Anglican 
authorities,  from  Hooker  and  Chillingworth  to 
Milman,  Stanley,  and  Whately.  There  was,  indeed, 
much  excuse  for  the  intolerance  which  prevailed  in 
religious  circles  at  that  time,  and  which  only  the  firm 
justice  of  the  State  restrained  from  actual  persecution. 
The  new  views,  with  which  we  are  familiar,  were  then 
as  novel  as  they  were  disturbing.  The  panic  was  not 
limited  to  fanatical  partisans,  or  to  the  mass  of  ignorant 

201 


Westminster  Sermons 

believers.  Liberal-minded  churchmen  like  Archbishop 
Tait  and  Frederick  Maurice  were  genuinely  alarmed 
by  the  publication  of  critical  conclusions  which  seemed 
to  shake  the  very  foundations  of  Christian  belief.  Yet 
there  were  even  then  wise  and  brave  thinkers,  who 
could  imagine  a  time  when  the  views  then  so  repugnant 
should  be  seen  to  be  not  a  weakness,  but  a  strength  to 
religion.  Thus  the  brave  and  saintly  Campbell  of 
Row  wrote  of  Colenso's  "  Pentateuch  "  to  his  friend 
Maurice  : — 

"I  know  little  of  historical  criticism.  In  its  present  state  it 
seems  to  have  its  chief  value  in  being  a  peculiar  and  very  search- 
ing trial  of  our  faith.  It  may  yet  develop  into  an  aid  to  faith. 
This  I  cannot  doubt  it  must  become  if  it  ever  attain  to  what  it 
aspires  to,  viz.,  a  true  matter-of-fact  restoration  of  the  past.  But 
at  present  it  seems  to  be  simply  a  trial  to  the  faith  held  on  higher 
grounds,  with  which  its  imperfect  and  fragmentary  results  are  not 
seen  to  harmonize  ;  doubtless  only  because  they  are  imperfect  and 
fragmentary.  But  what  is  as  yet  adverse  to  our  faith,  whatever  it 
may  become,  is  best  met  by  laying  the  foundations  of  that  faith 
more  and  more  deep  ;  or  rather  going  down  into  its  depths,  and 
taking  others  with  us  to  be  comforted  in  seeing  how  it  rests  on  the 
Rock  of  Ages."1 

The  faith  which  inspired  such  words  has  been 
abundantly  justified.  To-day  the  suspected  and 
dreaded  science  of  biblical  criticism  has  become  the 
armoury  of  the  Christian  apologist  ;  and  religion  draws 
new  strength  from  studies  which  scarcely  half  a  century 
ago  religious  men  almost  unanimously  denounced.  A 
whole  literature  of  devout  criticism  has  come  into  exist- 
ence, and  is  quickly  replacing  the  older  literature, 
exegetical  and  apologetic,  which  assumed  pre-critical 
views  of  scripture.  It  were  easy  to  name  many  admir- 
able examples  of  this  newer  literature,  which  is  the 
1  Vide  "  Life,"  ii.,  pp.  43 — 44. 
202 


The  Bible 


tribute  paid  by  science  to  faith  ;  but  I  will  limit  myself 
to  a  single  book,  as  well  for  the  excellence  of  its  con- 
tents as  for  the  authority  of  its  author.  Four  years  ago 
the  present  Bishop  of  Winchester  published  a  small 
volume  of  addresses  and  sermons  under  the  title,  "  On 
Holy  Scripture  and  Criticism,"  which  states  clearly  and 
persuasively  the  modern  view  of  the  Bible,  and  shows 
how  that  view,  while  it  changes  our  beliefs  about  the 
Bible  in  many  important  particulars,  confirms,  and  even 
deepens,  the  ancient  conviction  of  the  Church  as  to  its 
divine  authority  and  supreme  value.  We  can  take  up 
our  Bible  to-day,  when  we  are  perplexed  in  faith  or 
seeking  some  practical  guidance  for  ourselves  in  the 
difficult  situations  of  modern  life,  with  the  same  restful 
confidence  as  breathed  in  the  words  of  David,  when  he 
took  into  his  hands  that  famous  and  familiar  weapon 
with  which  he  had  beheaded  the  giant  of  Gath,  "  There 
is  none  like  that :  give  it  me." 

Let  me  indicate  four  reasons  why  this  confident 
attitude  can,  nay  must,  be  adopted  with  respect  to  the 
Bible  by  considering  and  candid  men. 

i.  We  now  know,  as  our  forefathers  could  not  know, 
the  superiority  of  the  Bible  among  the  sacred  books  of 
mankind.  These  books  have  been  collected,  edited  with 
scholarly  care,  translated  into  English.  We  are  able  to 
set  them  beside  our  Bible  and  to  institute  a  comparison 
between  it  and  them.  Does  any  serious  doubt  attach 
to  the  verdict  which  must  be  returned  ?  It  is,  of 
course,  the  fashion  in  some  quarters  to  speak  in  terms 
of  large  but  vague  admiration  of  the  sacred  books  of 
the  East,  and  to  convey  the  impression  that  there 
really  is  little  or  nothing  to  choose  between  them  and 

203 


Westminster  Sermons 

the  Christian  scriptures ;  but  I  do  not  think  that 
fashion  commends  itself  to  those  who  have  actually 
studied  those  non-Christian  books.  Take  for  instance 
the  confession  of  that  eminent  scholar,  Max  Muller, 
the  editor  of  the  great  series  of  "  The  Sacred  Books  of 
the  East,"  published  by  the  Clarendon  Press.  He 
was  the  least  likely  man  in  the  world  to  underestimate 
the  excellence  of  those  compositions  which  he  took  so 
much  pains  to  bring  to  the  knowledge  of  the  English 
public,  yet  this  is  what  he  says  in  his  editorial  preface  : 

"  I  confess  it  has  been  for  many  years  a  problem  to  me,  aye,  and 
to  a  great  extent  is  so  still,  how  the  sacred  books  of  the  East 
should,  by  the  side  of  so  much  that  is  fresh,  natural,  simple, 
beautiful,  and  true,  contain  so  much  that  is  not  only  unmeaning, 
artificial,  and  silly,  but  even  hideous  and  repellent." 

In  another  place  he  uses  very  strong  language  about 
the  Brahmanas,  which  form  no  small  or  unimportant 
part  of  the  canonical  Sanscrit  literature  of  India  : — 

"  These  works  deserve  to  be  studied  as  the  physician  studies  the 
twaddle  of  idiots  and  the  ravings  of  madmen.  They  will  disclose 
to  a  thoughtful  eye  the  ruins  of  faded  grandeur;  the  memories  of 
noble  aspirations.  But  let  us  only  try  to  translate  these  works  into 
our  own  language,  and  we  shall  feel  astonished  that  human  language 
and  human  thought  should  ever  have  been  used  for  such 
purposes."1 

I  have  frankly  admitted  that  the  Bible  stands  in  the 
same  category  with  these  sacred  books.  I  do  not  deny 
or  belittle  the  moral  and  spiritual  treasures  which 
they  enshrine,  or  question  the  value  of  the  religious 
service  which  they  have  rendered  to  mankind.  But  I 
submit  as  an  incontrovertible  proposition  that  the 
superiority  of  the  Bible  is  so  manifest  on  any  just 

1  Quoted  by  Marcus  Dods,  "The  Bible,"  p.  5. 
204 


The  Bible 


comparison  of  its  contents  with  theirs,  that  it  is  only  by 
something  like  a  culpable  misuse  of  language  that  it 
and  they  can  be  spoken  of  without  distinction.  In  the 
Bible  we  have  the  crown  and  flower  of  religious  writing. 
It  is  the  sacred  book  par  excellence. 

2.  We  are  able  to  study  the  history  of  the  Christian 
Church  through  a  period  of  nearly  nineteen  centuries, 
and  there  are  certain  lessons  which  lie  on  the  surface  of 
that  history  so  clearly  that  only  carelessness  or  prejudice 
can  miss  them.  One  of  those  lessons  is  the  intimate 
connection  between  ignorance  of  the  Bible  and  ecclesi- 
astical corruption.  It  is  a  sure  sign  of  a  corrupt 
church  when  it  discourages  Bible  reading  among  its 
members;  it  is  the  best  security  for  spiritual  efficiency 
that  the  Bible  should  be  known  in  the  homes  of  the 
people,  and  be  familiar  to  their  minds.  Again  and  again 
the  reformation  of  religion  has  proceeded  from  the  study 
of  the  Bible.  The  New  Testament  continues  in  the 
Church  as  the  perpetual  rebuke  of  those  natural 
tendencies,  hierarchical  and  sacerdotal,  which  transform 
for  evil  every  religion,  and  find  their  most  extreme  expres- 
sion in  that  religion  which  is  of  all  religions  the  best. 

3.  While  the  past  returns  so  decisive  a  verdict  on  the 
claim  of  the  Bible,  the  testimony  of  the  present  is 
accordant  and  hardly  less  decisive.  Within  the  century, 
since  that  great  Revolution  in  France,  which  may  be 
said  to  have  inaugurated  the  modern  world  in  which  we 
live,  many  attempts  have  been  made  by  thinkers  and 
statesmen  to  discover  some  substitute  for  Christianity 
as  the  sanction  of  moral  teaching,  and,  we  may  add, 
some  substitute  for  the  Bible  as  a  manual  of  funda- 
mental morality.    Can  it  be  said  that  those  attempts 

205 


Westminster  Sermons 


have  been  successful  ?  Would  it  not  be  nearer  the 
truth  to  say  that  thoughtful  and  patriotic  men  through- 
out the  whole  extent  of  western  civilization  are 
depressed  and  discouraged  by  the  equal  failure  of  non- 
religious  and  of  sacerdotalist  moral  teaching,  and  are 
growing  alarmed  at  the  consequences  of  ignoring  moral 
teaching  altogether  in  their  systems  of  public  education  ? 
Here  is  a  sentence  from  the  "  Report  of  an  International 
Inquiry  into  Moral  Instruction  and  Training  in 
Schools,"  so  admirably  edited  by  Professor  Sadler. 
This  is  the  conclusion  of  an  intelligent  observer  of  the 
moral  instruction  in  the  State  schools  of  France,  and  I 
incline  to  think  that  it  will  hold  good  if  the  area  of 
investigation  be  extended  to  other  countries,  which 
have  attempted  the  teaching  of  morality  without 
religion  : 

"  All  moral  instruction,  given  without  the  sanction  of  and 
appeal  to  more  sacred  claims  than  those  of  duty  to  the  community 
or  to  self,  is  quite  inadequate  for  its  object,  namely,  the  formation 
of  individual  character  and  the  foundation  of  national  virtue."1 

The  unique  distinction  of  the  Bible  is  its  combination 
of  the  highest  teaching  with  a  series  of  historical  illus- 
trations which  illumine  that  teaching,  and  make  it 
"  bite  into  "  the  mind.  There  is  this  further  circum- 
stance, that  the  Bible  being  the  sacred  book  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  constantly  kept  in  men's  minds,  so 
that  the  teaching  of  childhood  is  not  suffered  to  fade 
away,  but,  at  least  in  the  case  of  a  great  number  of 
citizens,  is  perpetually  being  renewed.  When  I  speak 
thus  generally  of  the  Bible,  I  am  greatly  understating 
the  strength  of  my  argument ;  for  the  Bible  contains 

1  Vol.  II.,  p.  115. 
206 


The  Bible 


the  gospels,  and  these  are  not  to  be  named  with  the 
rest  of  the  scriptures,  so  superior  are  they  in  all  that 
constitutes  a  manual  of  fundamental  morality.  I  con- 
fess that  when  I  reflect  on  all  the  bearings  of  the  subject, 
it  seems  to  me  nothing  short  of  political  insanity  for  a 
nation  such  as  our  own  to  allow  itself  to  be  hustled  by 
the  quarrels  of  sects  and  parties  into  banishing  from  its 
schools  this  incomparable  instrument  of  moral  training. 
Nor  can  I  bring  myself  to  believe  that  the  self-respect 
of  the  teachers  will  finally  acquiesce  in  a  conception  of 
their  noble  profession,  which  would  exclude  from  their 
concern  the  highest  faculties  and  most  enduring  interests 
of  the  children  they  are  set  to  teach.  A  low-toned 
trades-unionism  introduced  into  the  educational  sphere, 
where  trades-unionism  at  its  best  is  wholly  out  of  place, 
may  for  the  time  being  lead  them  to  advocate  so 
degrading  a  policy,  but  reflection  and  experience  can- 
not— I  am  sure  they  cannot — suffer  so  strange  an  error 
to  continue.  Whoever  else  insults  the  teachers  and 
belittles  their  profession,  let  it  not  be  themselves. 

4.  Lastly,  there  is  the  experience  of  individual 
Christians  to  the  unique  value  of  the  Bible.  A  short 
time  back  a  book  was  published  which  drew  out  in  a 
pleasing  and  effective  way  the  influence  of  the  Psalms 
in  human  life.  There  are  many  other  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  I  think  all  the  books  of  the  New,  which 
might  be  made  the  themes  of  similar  compilations. 
The  Christian  Church  has  accumulated  a  vast  devo- 
tional literature  in  the  course  of  its  long  history,  but 
who  would  exchange  the  whole  of  it  for  a  single  gospel  ? 
From  all  rivals  the  Christian  turns  to  the  Bible  with  a 
trust  and  love  which  never  falter.    "  There  is  none  like 

207 


Westminster  Sermons 


that :  give  it  me."  Have  you  ever  reflected  on  the 
wonderful  variety  of  this  testimony  ?  Every  type  of 
manhood,  every  stage  of  culture,  every  degree  of  intelli- 
gence, every  kind  of  condition,  are  expressed  in  the 
company  of  those  who  unite  in  testifying  to  the  spiritual 
worth  of  the  Bible.  Thousands  have  found  in  some 
text  of  scripture  the  very  oracle  of  Divine  guidance 
which  at  the  crisis  of  their  lives  they  wanted.  Thou- 
sands have  been  sustained,  when  every  other  earthly 
comfort  failed  them,  by  tender  words  of  the  Bible  rising 
on  the  memory  like  the  last  gleams  of  a  setting  sun  on 
a  wintry  scene,  or  whispered  in  the  ear  like  a  secret  from 
a  lover  far  away.  "There  is  none  like  that:  give  it 
me,"  says  the  dying  Christian  bracing  himself  for  the 
last  conflict.  "  Thy  testimonies  are  wonderful :  there- 
fore doth  my  soul  keep  them.  The  openingof  Thy  words 
giveth  light ;  it  giveth  understanding  unto  the  simple." 

But  I  must  make  an  end.  What  I  have  said  of  the  Bible 
properly  bears  on  the  appeal  of  the  great  society  which 
is  engaged  in  the  translation,  printing,  and  distribution 
of  the  scriptures.  There  can  be  no  doubt  in  any 
Christian's,  nay  in  any  patriot's,  mind  as  to  the  sound- 
ness of  the  work  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society.  Missionaries  from  all  parts  of  the  mission 
field  confess  their  dependence  on  it  for  the  instruments 
of  their  evangelistic  warfare.  It  brings  cheap  editions 
of  the  Bible  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest  people. 
Thanks  to  its  efforts  the  Bible  is  still  the  most  popular 
of  English  books.  It  cannot  be  necessary  for  me  to 
plead  for  a  work  so  manifestly  excellent.  I  leave  this 
appeal  in  your  hands  with  the  assurance  that  you  will 
contribute  willingly  and  generously. 

208 


XVI 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY1 


LET  A  MAN  SO  ACCOUNT  OF  US,  AS  OF  MINISTERS  OF  CHRIST,  AND 
STEWARDS  OF  THE  MYSTERIES  OF  GOD.  —  I  CORINTHIANS  iv.  i. 

S.  Paul  has  just  affirmed  that  the  ministry  belongs 
to  the  Church,  and  is  not  to  be  exalted  into  a  position 
of  isolation  and  superiority.  The  text  must  be  held 
closely  to  the  preceding  words.  "  Let  no  man  glory  in 
men,"  says  the  apostle  to  the  keen  partisans  of  Corinth, 
who  were  falling  into  factions  under  the  names  of  the 
great  apostolic  leaders  of  the  Church,  and  he  adds  the 
reason  why  such  glorying  in  men  was  wrong  and  even 
absurd,  "  For  all  things  are  yours  ;  whether  Paul,  or 
Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or 
things  present,  or  things  to  come;  all  are  yours  ;  and 
ye  are  Christ's ;  and  Christ  is  God's."  That  is  the 
fundamental  truth  which  is  to  determine  their  estimate 
and  treatment  of  Christian  teachers,  and  which  not  less 
is,  in  the  case  of  the  teachers  themselves,  to  shape  the 
theory  and  govern  the  exercise  of  their  ministry.  Since 
the  ministers  belong  to  the  Church,  and  the  Church  to 
Christ,  the  work,  of  the  ministers  must  be  valued  and 
judged  solely   in   relation   to  Christ ;    since  Christ 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  the  3rd  Sunday 
in  Advent,  December  15,  1907. 


209 


0 


Westminster  Sermons 


belongs  to  God,  the  final  verdict  on  those  who  are 
Christ's  servants  must  be  referred  to  the  divine  judgment. 

"  Let  a  man  so  account  of  us,  as  of  ministers  of 
Christ,  and  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God."    "  The 
object  of  the  passage,"  said  Dean  Stanley  very  justly, 
"  is  not  to  exalt,  but  to  depreciate  the  teachers.  They 
are  only  the  humblest  servants,  not  the  representatives 
of  Christ." 1     Perhaps  we  may  say  that  the  apostle 
desired  both  to  exalt  and  to  depreciate.    He  would 
disallow  and  disprove  a   false   claim,    in    order  to. 
establish  the  rightful  title  of  the  Christian  ministry. 
He  repudiates  "  lordship  over  the  faith  "  of  the  Corin- 
thians, in  order  that  he  may  bring  the  ministry  under 
the  grand  principle  of  divinely  ordained  service.    "  Not 
that  we  have  lordship  over  your  faith,"  he  writes  in  the 
second  epistle,  "  but  are   helpers  of  your  joy."  It 
is  not  perhaps  superfluous  to  point  out  that  the  postulate 
of  the  apostle's  theory  of  the  Christian  ministry  is  fatal 
to   every   doctrine  of  ecclesiastical  authority  which 
separates  the  ministry  from  the  society  of  believers, 
and  seeks  the  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  decisions 
of  the  clergy  as  such.    The  student  of  current  theologi- 
cal literature  will  endorse  the  observation  of  the  present 
bishop  of  Oxford  :  "  Few  words,  perhaps,  are  used  more 
loosely  and  uncertainly  than  the  word  Church  ;  few 
words  stand  more  often  in  sentences  which  men  would 
have  to  reconsider  and  perhaps  recast  if  they  thought 
out  definitely  what  they  mean."    It  cannot  be  unfitting 
that  English  churchmen  should  be  reminded  that  the 
20th  Article,   which   makes   the   much  emphasized 
declaration  that  "  the  Church  hath  power  to  decree 
1  Vide  "  Corinthians,"  p.  73. 
210 


The  Christian  Ministry 

Rites  or  Ceremonies,  and  authority  in  Controversies  of 
Faith,"  is  preceded  by  the  generally  forgotten  igth 
Article  which  defines  the  Church  as  "  a  congregation  of 
faithful  men,  in  the  which  the  pure  Word  of  God  is 
preached,  and  the  Sacraments  be  duly  ministered 
according  to  Christ's  ordinance  in  all  those  things  that 
of  necessity  are  requisite  to  the  same."  Nor  is  it 
without  importance  to  remember  that  the  21st  Article 
explicitly  repudiates  the  favourite  Gallican  and  Anglo- 
Catholic  notion  of  the  infallibility  of  general  councils. 
It  has  been  questioned  whether  the  words  of  the  text 
are  properly  applicable  to  every  member  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry,  and  whether  they  may  be  accepted  as 
"  a  complete  account  of  the  functions  of  the  Christian 
ministry."  But  it  would  seem  evident  that  there  is  no 
real  doubt  as  to  the  general  range,  and  to  the  satisfying 
character,  of  the  apostle's  words.  It  is  of  course 
apparent  that  his  immediate  concern  was  with  the 
actual  situation  in  the  Corinthian  church,  where  parties 
were  in  process  of  being  formed  on  the  basis  of  a  dis- 
tinctive and  professed  preference  for  one  or  other  of  the 
apostolic  teachers,  but  S.  Paul  explicitly  extends  his 
reference  to  the  position  of  all  teachers  in  the  Church, 
and  the  duties  of  Christians  with  respect  to  them.  He 
explains  the  reason  why  he  had  spoken  of  himself  and 
Apollos,  rather  than  in  general  terms.  "  These 
things,  brethren,  I  have  in  a  figure  transferred  to  my- 
self and  Apollos  for  your  sakes  ;  that  in  us  ye  might 
learn  not  to  go  beyond  the  things  that  are  written." 
It  is,  moreover,  manifest  that  the  apostle  sometimes 
addresses  himself  to  the  Corinthians  as  a  whole, 
and  sometimes  to  the  Corinthian  teachers,  and  that 


211 


o  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


this  difference  of  address  contributes  no  slight  proportion 
of  the  difficulty  which  undoubtedly  attaches  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  whole  passage  dealing  with  the 
subject  of  Christian  teachers.  We  may  admit  that 
S.  Paul  is  primarily  concerned  with  the  Christian 
minister  as  a  religious  teacher,  and  that  there  are  other 
aspects  of  the  ministerial  character,  which  are  not 
directly  contemplated  in  his  words.  We  know  from 
the  pastoral  epistles  that  there  were  presbyters  in  the 
apostolic  church  who  did  not  "labour  in  the  word," 
and  that  those  who  did  so  labour  were  then  held  to  be 
"  worthy  of  double  honour."  But,  when  all  is  said,  it 
cannot  be  seriously  questioned  that  the  leading  and 
distinctive  function  of  the  Christian  minister  is  that  of 
teaching,  and  that  all  the  other  functions  may  fairly  be 
considered  as  included  in  this  principal  work.  No 
member  of  the  Christian  ministry,  and  no  task  of  any 
Christian  minister,  lies  outside  the  range  of  the  descrip- 
tion which  the  apostle  offers,  or  may  be  released  from 
the  limitations  which  he  suggests.  "  Let  a  man  so 
account  of  us,  as  of  ministers  of  Christ,  and  stewards  of 
the  mysteries  of  God." 

The  two  words  adopted  as  descriptions  of  the 
Christian  minister  are  carefully  chosen  to  disallow, 
what  I  shall  take  leave  to  call,  the  natural  perversions 
of  his  office  and  work.  "  Minister"  (virqpeTrjs)  and 
"  steward  "  (oIkovohos)  are  both  humbling  terms.  The 
one  emphasizes  the  notion  of  service  ;  the  other  that 
of  responsibility.  As  a  "minister"  the  clergyman  is 
precluded  from  making  his  office  the  foundation  for 
self-advantage  and  self-advertisement.  He  exists  for 
the  Church,  and  not  the  Church,  for  him.    S.  Paul  has 


212 


The  Christian  Ministry 

accepted,  and  carried  into  his  doctrine,  the  solemn  and 
moving  declarations  of  the  Lord  :  "  Ye  know  that  they 
which  are  accounted  to  rule  over  the  Gentiles  lord  it 
over  them  ;  and  their  great  ones  exercise  authority  over 
them.  But  it  is  not  so  among  you:  but  whosoever 
would  become  great  among  you,  shall  be  your  minister" 
(biaxovos)  :  "  and  whosoever  would  be  first  among  you, 
shall  be  servant  of  all.  For  verily  the  Son  of  man 
came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to 
give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many."  This  word  "minister" 
describes  the  active  and  laborious  side  of  the  clergy- 
man's office.  He  is  pre-eminently  the  servant  of  the 
Church.  It  is  not  without  a  certain  melancholy  interest 
that,  among  the  pompous  titles  of  the  Pope,  there  should 
linger  this  lowly  relic  of  a  forgotten  truth.  The  supreme 
pontiff  is  servus  servorum.  If,  however,  this  description 
stood  alone,  the  full  greatness  and  the  immense  difficulty 
of  the  clergyman's  work  would  not  have  been  declared. 
He  is  not  only  the  "  minister  of  Christ "  carrying  on 
that  tradition  of  unselfish  service  which  Christ,  the 
Founder  and  Head  of  the  Church,  did  in  His  own  person 
inaugurate,  but  he  is  also  the  "  steward  of  the  mysteries 
of  God,"  and  his  service  of  the  Church  is  determined 
and  directed  by  that  fact  of  stewardship.  This  word 
"  steward  "  is  connected  with  the  interior  and  spiritual 
side  of  ministry.  It  affirms  the  far-reaching  truth  that 
the  Christian  teacher  is  not  the  author  of  his  own 
message,  but  the  responsible  guardian  of  the  message 
of  another.  The  truth  which  he  is  commissioned  to 
proclaim  has  better  authentications  than  any  which  his 
personal  authority  can  supply ;  he  is  the  witness  to  the 
truth  of  God,  the  spokesman  of  a  divine  revelation. 

213 


Westminster  Sermons 


At  a  later  period  it  became  customary  to  describe  the 
sacraments  as  the  "mysteries,"  and  it  appears  certain 
that  this  use  of  the  word  was  not  remotely  connected 
with  the  current  practice  of  paganism ;  but  in  the 
apostolic  age  it  seems  impossible  to  discern  any  trace 
ol  the  later  association  of  ideas.  In  the  apostolic 
writings  the  word  "mystery"  is  used  of  the  whole 
Christian  revelation  of  truth  regarded  as  a  divine  secret 
now  at  last,  in  and  by  Christ,  made  known  to  men  ; 
and  the  plural,  "  mysteries,"  appears  to  be  used  of  the 
separate  elements  of  revelation,  which  the  Christian 
teachers,  according  to  their  perception  of  the  needs 
of  the  Church,  handled  separately  and  emphasized 
variously.  Perhaps  we  may  refer,  for  a  luminous  com- 
mentary on  the  text,  to  S.  Paul's  description  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  himself  understood  and  fulfilled 
the  "  stewardship  intrusted  to  him."  He  pictures 
himself  as  matching  the  diverse  aspects  of  the  gospel 
to  the  diverse  needs  of  men.  The  Jew,  the  Gentile 
"without  law,"  the  "weak" — all  were  enabled,  by  his 
sympathetic  insight  into  their  several  points  of  view,  to 
perceive  in  the  Christian  message  just  that  for  which 
their  souls  were  hungering.  "  I  am  become  all  things 
to  all  men,  that  I  may  by  all  means  save  some.  And  I 
do  all  things  for  the  gospel's  sake,  that  I  may  be  a  joint 
partaker  thereof."  This  many-sidedness  of  the  gospel, 
and  the  need  of  discriminating  wisdom  in  its  preaching 
which  arises  from  the  fact,  are  suggested  by  the  phrase 
"  the  mysteries  of  God."  The  aspect  of  the  gospel 
which  S.  Paul  himself  mostly  dwelt  upon,  and  which 
he  described  in  the  start  of  his  epistle  as  "the  word  of 
the  cross,"  "Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified,"  was 

214 


The  Christian  Ministry 

widely  different  from  that  which  his  apostolic  comrade 
Apollos,  the  eloquent  Alexandrian,  was  wont  to 
emphasize,  and  both  these  aspects  were  again  different 
from  that  which  men  were  accustomed  to  associate 
with  the  Jewish  apostle,  Cephas.  In  this  variety  of 
presentment  undoubtedly  the  different  idiosyncrasies  of 
the  apostles  were  reflected,  and  we  may  surely  recog- 
nize in  the  fact  nothing  less  than  the  consecration  of 
individuality  to  the  service  of  God's  redemptive  purpose. 
For  what  was  apparent  in  the  case  of  the  apostles  has 
been  equally  apparent  in  the  case  of  their  successors  in 
the  ministry.  Robertson,  of  Brighton,  spoke  truly  of 
the  value  and  the  risk  of  this  association  of  religion  with 
the  limitations  of  individual  temperament : — 

"  Paul  and  APOLLOS  each  taught  a  truth  that  had  taken  possession 
of  their  souls.  S.  Paul  preached  one,  as  we  know,  which  he  called 
'  my  gospel' — one  peculiarly  his  own.  Such  is  the  case,  too,  with 
an  inferior  minister.  Each  man,  each  teacher,  now  as  then, 
reveals  to  his  hearers  that  truth  which  has  most  filled  his  own 
soul,  and  which  is  his  peculiarly  because  it  most  agrees  with  his 
character.  Well,  this  truth  of  his  commends  itself  to  kindred 
spirits  in  his  congregation :  it  expresses  their  difficulties,  it  is  a 
flood  of  light  on  many  a  dark  passage  of  their  history.  No  wonder 
that  they  view  with  gratitude,  and  an  enthusiasm  bordering  on 
veneration,  the  messenger  of  this  blessedness.  And  no  wonder 
that  the  truth  thus  taught  becomes  at  last  the  chief,  almost  the 
sole,  truth  proclaimed  by  him.  First,  because  every  man  has  but 
one  mind,  and  must,  therefore,  repeat  himself.  And  secondly, 
because  that  which  has  won  attachment  from  his  congregation 
can  scarcely  be  made  subordinate  in  subsequent  teaching  without 
losing  that  attachment  ;  so  that,  partly  for  the  sake  of  apparent 
consistency,  partly  to  avoid  offence,  and  partly  from  that  con- 
servatism of  mental  habits  which  makes  it  so  difficult  to  break 
through  systems,  ministers  and  congregations  often  narrow  into  a 
party  and  hold  one  truth  especially.  And  so  far  they  do  well  ;  but 
if  they  should  go  on  to  hold  that  truth  to  the  exclusion  of  all  truths, 
so  far  as  they  do  that  it  is  not  well  ;  and  nothing  is  more  remark- 
able than  the  bitter  and  jealous  antagonism  with  which  party-men 
who  have  reached  this  point  watch  all  other  religious  factions  but 


215 


Westminster  Sermons 


their  own.  And  then  the  sectarian  work  is  done  :  the  minister  is 
at  once  the  idol  and  the  slave  of  the  party  which  he  rules  by 
flattering  its  bigotry  and  stimulating  its  religious  antipathies."  1 

These  dangers  are  never  remote,  and  in  Robertson's 
generation  were  particularly  apparent :  "  Have  I  not 
given  you  a  home  history  ?  "  he  asked  his  congregation 
at  Brighton — "  the  exact  and  likeliest  history  of  many 
an  English  party,  which  began  with  a  truth,  and  then 
called  it  the  truth,  flattering  one  another,  and  being 
'  puffed  up  for  one  against  another,'  and  manifesting 
that,  with  all  their  high  professions,  they  were  '  carnal, 
and  walked  as  men.'  "  The  great  revival  of  interest  in 
the  liturgical  and  social  aspects  of  Christianity  has 
perhaps  during  the  last  half  century  mitigated  the 
tendency,  which  prevailed  among  those  with  whom 
Robertson  was  associated,  to  magnify  the  preacher, 
and  form  religious  parties  behind  his  name.  Our 
ecclesiastical  system,  as  it  is  expressed  in  the  prayer 
book,  provides  for  all  who  will  rightly  accept  it,  a 
powerful  corrective  of  the  tendency  to  hold  Christian 
interest  within  the  narrow  grooves  of  an  individual 
teacher's  idiosyncracy,  for  the  regular  sequence  of  the 
Christian  year  brings  every  element  of  our  religion 
successively  before  both  teachers  and  congregations. 
But  we  are  certainly  menaced  by  another,  though 
kindred,  perversion  of  the  clergyman's  office.  Not  the 
man  himself  is  commonly  exalted,  but  the  official.  It 
is  the  priest,  no  more  the  preacher,  who  most  often 
comes  under  the  censure  of  S.  Paul's  words.  This 
error  is,  indeed,  far  more  subtle  and  dangerous  than 


Vide  "  Lectures  on  the  Corinthians,"  p.  64. 
2l6 


The  Christian  Ministry 

the  other,  for  it  does  not  so  easily  provoke  the  resent- 
ment of  the  modest  and  manly  elements  of  character. 
Even  in  Robertson's  day  this  error  was  rearing  its 
head  in  the  Church  of  England,  and,  with  your  per- 
mission, I  will  again  choose  his  words  rather  than  my 
own  to  describe  it,  only  premising  that  what  was 
incipient,  and  in  a  sense  latent,  then  has  since  grown 
powerful  and  manifest  within  our  church,  so  powerful 
and  so  manifest  that  it  has  become  a  question  whether 
it  can  be  restrained  or  corrected  : — 

"  Many  will  refuse  obedience  to  one  standing  on  his  personal 
gifts  or  party  views  ;  but  when  one  claiming  the  Power  of  the 
Keys,  and  pretending  to  the  power  of  miraculous  conveyance  of 
the  Eternal  Spirit  in  Baptism,  or  pretending,  in  shrouded  words 
of  mystery,  to  transform  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine  into  the 
very  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  ;  or,  declaring  that  he  has  an 
especial  power  to  receive  confession  and  a  miraculous  right  to 
forgive  sins,  therefore  claims  homage  from  the  congregation  ; 
then,  grave  men,  who  would  turn  contemptuously  from  the  tricks 
of  the  mere  preacher,  are  sometimes  subdued  before  those  of  the 
priest.  And  yet  this  is  but  the  same  thing  in  another  form  against 
which  S.  Paul  contended  in  Corinth,  for  pride  and  vanity  can 
assume  different  forms  and  sometimes  appear  in  the  very  guise  of 
humility.  Power  is  dear  to  man,  and  for  the  substance,  who  would 
not  sacrifice  the  shadow  ?  Who  would  not  depreciate  himself  if 
by  magnifying  his  office  he  obtained  the  power  fie  loved?" 

It  needs  not  that  I  should  add  anything  to  these 
grave  and  significant  words  ;  you  may  find  their  veri- 
fications on  many,  and  those  the  saddest  and  most 
scandalous,  pages  of  Christian  history  ;  and  it  seems  to 
me  that  one  cannot  read  the  literature  of  the  modern 
church  without  perceiving  that  the  ancient  enemy  is 
again  prevailing  against  us,  and  that  the  delusion  of 
sacerdotalism  is  confusing  both  the  mind  and  the 
conscience  of  English  churchmen. 

Against  both  these  perversions  of  the  teacher's  office, 

217 


Westminster  Sermons 

that  which  magnifies  the  individual  and  that  which 
exalts  the  priesthood,  S.  Paul  offers  the  protection  of 
two  solemn  facts,  implicit  in  the  Christian  ministry. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  supremacy  of  the  Christian 
society  over  its  own  servants  and  officers;  on  the 
other  hand,  the  incommunicable  responsibility  of  the 
"  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God."  Here  is  the 
independence  of  the  preacher  fully  secured  without 
any  sustenance  offered  to  the  preacher's  vanity.  Here 
is  the  limit  determined  of  the  legitimate  requirements 
of  service  ;  beyond  this  point  the  claim  of  the  con- 
gregation may  not  advance.  For  both  church  and 
minister  alike  stand  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ, 
who  is  the  true  owner  of  both.  Here,  then,  is  the 
effective  condemnation  of  those  parasitic  ministries 
which  draw  their  guidance  and  their  substance  from 
the  opinions  and  prejudices  of  society  ;  all  the  deep 
evil  which  has  given  to  Erastianism  its  sinister  signi- 
ficance in  Christian  experience  is  here  disallowed  and 
exposed.  Here  is  the  principle  of  the  minister's  self- 
respect,  and  the  charter  of  the  preacher's  rights.  "  Let 
a  man  so  account  of  us,  as  of  ministers  of  Christ,  and 
stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God.  Here,  moreover,  it 
is  required  in  stewards  that  a  man  be  found  faithful. 
But  with  me  it  is  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should  be 
judged  of  you,  or  of  man's  judgment :  yea,  I  judge  not 
mine  own  self  .  .  .  but  he  that  judgeth  me  is  the 
Lord."  As  he  uses  this  language,  which  almost  seems 
too  stately  for  human  lips,  the  apostle  characteristically 
insists  on  bringing  all  his  brethren  into  the  same  great 
category  of  judgment.  Ministry  is  inherent  in  the  fact 
of  discipleship.     The  minister  as  such  differs  but  in 

218 


The  Christian  Ministry 

degree  from  the  private  Christian ;  there  can  be  but 
one  status,  but  one  character  in  the  family  of  God.  So 
he  widens  his  reference  to  embrace  all  Christians. 
"Wherefore  judge  nothing  before  the  time,  until  the 
Lord  come,  who  will  both  bring  to  light  the  hidden 
things  of  darkness,  and  make  manifest  the  counsels  of 
the  hearts  ;  and  then  shall  each  man  have  his  praise 
from  God."  The  tendency  to  judge  others  is  deeply 
implanted  in  human  nature,  and  takes  to  itself  many 
justifications  from  the  necessities  under  which  we  lie 
as  members  of  society,  but  it  is  a  dangerous  tendency 
which  we  are  most  solemnly  called  upon,  in  the 
interests  both  of  others  and  of  ourselves,  to  restrain 
and  criticize  and  keep  under  control.  In  that  strange 
and  melancholy  book  in  which  Arthur  Young,  the 
famous  agriculturist,  wrote  the  story  of  his  life,  there  is 
a  striking  example  of  the  habit  of  judging  others  which 
then  disfigured  the  piety  of  Evangelical  Christians. 
He  records  a  visit  to  Cambridge  in  the  year  1804,  when 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  great  Evangelical 
preacher,  Charles  Simeon.  In  the  course  of  conver- 
sation they  discussed  the  number  of  genuine  Christians 
in  the  world. 

"I  mentioned  Fry's  calculation  of  three  millions  of  Christians, 
but  he  very  properly  thought  it  very  erroneous.  He  thinks 
Cambridge  a  fair  average,  and  in  10,000  people  knows  but  of  no 
certainly  vital  Christians — more  than  150  can  scarcely  be  from  a 
seventy-fifth  to  a  hundredth  part  thereof  !  " 1 

Against  such  lamentable  Pharisaism  set  the  words  of 
the  Divine  Master  and  Judge:  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be 
not  judged.    For  with  what  judgement  ye  judge,  ye 

1  Vide  "  Autobiography,"  p.  398. 


219 


Westminster  Sermons 


shall  be  judged :  and  with  what  measure  ye  mete,  it 
shall  be  measured  unto  you." 

On  the  third  Sunday  in  Advent,  when  the  duty  of 
the  Christian  ministry  is  shown  in  relation  to  the 
judgment  day,  and  illustrated  by  the  example  of  that 
fearless  preacher  of  judgment  who  "prepared  the  way 
of  the  Lord,"  these  considerations  cannot  be  unfitting 
or  unprofitable.  For  the  clergy  and  the  laity  alike 
their  solemn  importance  is  manifest,  and  their  search- 
ing censures  are  relevant.  Let  us  seek  grace  from 
Almighty  God  humbly  and  honestly  to  fulfil  our  task, 
keeping  always  in  mind  the  solemn  account  which 
we  must  one  day  give  before  the  judgment  seat  of 
Christ. 


220 


Ill 

SOCIAL  AND  NATIONAL 


XVII 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIETY1 

LET  EACH  MAN  ABIDE  IN  THAT  CALLING  WHEREIN  HE  WAS 
CALLED.  WAST  THOU  CALLED  BEING  A  BONDSERVANT  ?  CARE  NOT 
FOR  IT  :  BUT  IF  THOU  CANST  BECOME  FREE,  USE  IT  RATHER.  FOR 
HE  THAT  WAS  CALLED  IN  THE  LORD,  BEING  A  BONDSERVANT,  IS 
THE  LORD'S  FREEDMAN  :  LIKEWISE  HE  THAT  WAS  CALLED,  BEING 

free,  is  Christ's  bondservant,  ye  were  bought  with  a 
price;  become  not  bondservants  of  men.  brethren,  let 
each  man,  wherein  he  was  called,  therein  abide  with  god. 

I  CORINTHIANS  Vli.  20  24. 

How  ought  Christianity  to  affect  human  society  ? 
This  is  a  question  which  is  often  asked  at  the  present 
time,  and  which  too  often  receives  an  answer  more 
facile  than  convincing.  It  is  well  to  remember  that 
the  question  was  asked  at  the  beginning,  and  has  often 
been  asked  in  the  course  of  Christian  history.  Indeed 
it  is  an  inevitable  question  whether  your  attitude 
towards  Christianity  be  that  of  friend  or  foe.  For  in 
both  capacities  you  will  perforce  admit  that  the  dis- 
crepancy between  the  teaching  of  the  gospel  and  the 
established  maxims  of  human  intercourse  is  so  wide  as 
to  challenge  inquiry  on  the  point,  how  far  those  who 
accept  the  first  can  acquiesce  in  the  last.  Moreover, 
the  practical  importance  of  the  question  is  very  great, 
for  Christianity  is  the  most  widely  distributed,  and 
probably  the  most  powerful,  force  existing  within  the 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  the  17th  Sunday 
after  Trinity,  October  11,  1908. 


223 


Westminster  Sermons 


civilized  society  of  the  West,  and  its  attitude  towards 
that  society  {i.e.,  the  view  which  Christians  themselves 
generally  adopt  as  to  the  bearing  of  their  principles 
upon  the  course  and  conduct  of  the  world)  will  affect 
the  stability  of  the  social  order  most  deeply.  It  would, 
of  course,  be  impossible  in  a  short  sermon  to  deal 
adequately  with  so  large  and  complex  a  subject,  but  I 
trust  we  may  be  able  to  form  a  clear  notion  of  the 
answer  which  the  apostle  Paul  returned  to  the  ques- 
tion as  it  was  propounded  to  him  by  his  converts  in 
Corinth,  and  I  hope  it  is  safe  for  me  to  assume  that 
that  apostolic  answer  throws  light  on  the  more  com- 
plicated but  fundamentally  identical  social  problem  of 
our  own  age. 

Let  it  be  observed  at  the  start  that  S.  Paul  in  this 
difficult  seventh  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  is  careful  to  guard  against  any  exaggerated 
claim  for  his  own  teaching.  The  expressions  made  use 
of  in  his  treatment  of  the  practical  problems,  which  the 
Corinthians  had  submitted  to  his  judgment,  indicate 
quite  clearly  that  the  apostle  distinguished  in  his  own 
mind  between  those  teachings  of  his  own,  which  were 
directly  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  those  for 
which  he  could  claim  no  greater  authority  than  that 
which  his  knowledge  and  wisdom  could  impart  to  them. 
"  This  I  say  by  way  of  permission,  not  of  command- 
ment," is  a  modest  formula  for  an  inspired  apostle  to 
adopt.  "  Unto  the  married  I  give  charge,  yea,  not  I, 
but  the  Lord,"  is  the  emphatic  phrase  which  introduces 
his  statement  of  fundamental  principle.  "  To  the  rest  say 
I,  not  the  Lord,"  is  his  careful  introduction  of  teachings 
which   had   behind   them   only  his  own  judgment. 


224 


Christianity  and  Society 

It  is,  if  I  read  the  chapter  correctly,  this  phrase  which 
governs  the  passage  which  forms  our  text,  for  the  clause, 
"  So  ordain  I  in  all  the  churches,"  which  marks  his 
transition  from  questions  of  marriage  to  other  social 
questions,  does  not  affect  the  authority  of  the  whole 
argument.  It  appears  to  me,  therefore,  that  we  are  to 
consider  the  text,  not  as  an  inspired  and  infallible  pro- 
nouncement, but  as  an  apostolic  opinion  on  the  question 
with  which  we  started — viz.,  How  ought  Christianity  to 
affect  human  society? 

What,  then,  is  S.  Paul's  answer  ?  It  is  nothing  else 
than  the  definite  and  complete  repudiation  of  any 
revolutionary  character  attaching  to  the  gospel.  He 
speaks,  as  a  contemporary  Stoic  might  have  spoken,  of 
the  utter  unimportance  of  a  man's  circumstances.  To 
the  converted  slave,  full  of  the  exultant  consciousness 
of  his  spiritual  equality  with  his  owner,  he  says  that 
he  need  not  concern  himself  about  his  servile  status  ; 
to  the  free  man,  conspicuous  in  the  assembly  of  con- 
verted slaves  and  freedmen  by  virtue  of  his  freedom, 
he  says  that  he  must  not  pride  himself  on  his  envied 
independence.  Discipleship  lifts  both  to  that  higher 
plane  of  existence  on  which  the  arbitrary  distinctions 
of  human  society  lose  their  meaning,  and  are  absorbed 
in  a  common  and  heavenly  franchise.  "  Our  citizen- 
ship is  in  heaven." 

Christianity,  then,  according  to  S.  Paul,  is  indifferent 
to  circumstances,  because  it  concerns  itself  solely  with 
the  ultimate  creator  and  ruler  of  circumstances,  the 
man  himself.  Therefore  this  indifference  to  circum- 
stances does  not  properly  imply  a  mere  social  fatalism, 
a  doctrine  of  unqualified  and  perpetual  submission 

225  p 


Westminster  Sermons 


Rather  it  is  the  principle  of  reasonable  social  progress, 
for  it  begins  at  the  beginning  by  enfranchising  the 
individual  in  himself,  and  then  through  the  enfranchised 
individual  rectifies  the  conditions  of  his  life  in  society. 

Consider  somewhat  more  closely  how  this  Pauline 
doctrine  bears  upon  practical  issues.  If  Christianity 
be  indeed  the  gospel  of  individual  enfranchisement, 
then  it  cannot  really  be  the  ally  of  any  social  policy 
which  hinders  and  contradicts  that  supreme  object. 
Whatsoever  holds  men  below  the  possibilities  of  their 
manhood  is  by  that  very  fact,  and  to  that  precise 
extent,  alien  to  the  main  intention  of  Christ's  religion. 
This  general  proposition  is  universally  true,  but  its 
practical  significance  will  vary  with  the  actual  state 
of  society.  In  S.  Paul's  age  acquiescence  in  the 
servile  status  was  necessary  in  the  very  interest  of 
morality.  To  have  proclaimed  the  emancipation 
of  all  slaves  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  stirred  up  a 
"  servile  war  "  within  the  empire,  would  not  only  have 
been  practically  fatuous,  but  would  have  failed  to  carry 
the  approval  of  the  general  conscience.  Society  itself 
rested  on  the  basis  of  slavery,  and  the  best  political 
wisdom  of  the  age  could  imagine  no  other  basis.  The 
infant  religion  would  have  been  extinguished  in  blood 
within  a  few  years  of  its  first  proclamation,  if  the 
apostles  had  adopted  this  revolutionary  conception 
of  its  character.  The  Church,  however,  could  not 
postpone  her  spiritual  triumphs  until  the  minds  of  men 
had  changed  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  As  if  for  ever 
to  disallow  the  facile  notion  that  the  gospel  of  Christ 
can  rightly  be  interpreted  as  a  revolutionary  principle 
striking  into  the  course  of  economic  development,  and 

226 


Christianity  and  Society 

by  the  strong  hand  conforming  human  circumstances 
to  an  ideal  born  from  above  into  the  world,  it  has  been 
the  will  of  God  that  the  most  authoritative  teachings 
and  the  most  illustrious  examples  of  Christianity  should 
belong  to  a  time  when  the  very  notion  of  conflict  with 
social  order  was  absent  from  the  Christian  mind,  and 
a  sublime  patience  was  the  most  distinctive  trait  of 
the  Christian  character.  By  thus  demonstrating  the 
supremacy  of  the  man  over  his  circumstances,  Chris- 
tianity surely  did  more  for  the  ultimate  reformation 
of  society  than  could  possibly  have  been  done  by  any 
direct  onslaught  on  the  circumstances  themselves. 
To  the  ancients  it  seemed  axiomatic  that  the  highest 
kind  of  life,  the  life  of  the  wise  man  or  true  philosopher, 
could  only  be  possible  to  the  sheltered  or  extraordinary 
few,  never  to  the  gross  multitude,  least  of  all  to  slaves. 
Christianity  set  before  them  the  spectacle  of  common 
folk  "  living  as  philosophers."  Self-respecting,  chaste, 
temperate,  independent  in  mind,  honest  and  competent 
in  service — these  Christian  slaves  and  freedmen  con- 
quered for  themselves  the  reluctant  homage  of  their 
persecutors.  The  paradox  of  servile  virtue  forced  the 
reflective  pagans  to  inquire  into  the  source  of  so 
amazing  a  phenomenon  ;  and  inquiry  was  in  many 
cases  the  prelude  to  conversion.  In  S.  Paul's  words 
the  secret  of  Christian  independence  lies  confessed. 
Within  the  believing  slave's  mind  lay  the  principle 
of  liberty,  and  the  natural  effect  of  his  miserable 
circumstance  was  corrected  by  the  power  of  a  high 
conviction.  "  He  that  was  called  in  the  Lord,  being 
a  bondservant,  is  the  Lord's  freedman."  Slavery  itself, 
so  absolute  in  its  claim,  so  all-embracing  in  its  effect,  was 

227  p  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


transfigured  in  Christian  eyes ;  it  illustrated  the 
inevitable  relationship  of  the  redeemed  to  the  Master, 
who  by  the  bitter  purchase-money  of  His  own  blood 
had  redeemed  them.  The  pride  of  social  superiority 
sank  before  that  thought.  "  He  that  was  called,  being 
free,  is  Christ's  bondservant."  You  observe  that  the 
apostle  lays  emphasis  on  this  basis  of  his  teaching. 
"  Ye  were  bought  with  a  price,"  he  says,  "  become 
not  bondservants  of  men."  This  of  course  is  the  old 
Hebrew  theory  as  to  Israel's  status  applied  to  the 
Christian  Church.  In  the  Book  of  Leviticus  it  is  laid 
down  that  a  Hebrew  may  not  be  held  in  servitude, 
because  all  Hebrews  have  been  purchased  by  Jehovah 
to  be  His  servants.  "They  are  My  servants,  which 
I  brought  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  :  they  shall 
not  be  sold  as  bondmen."  Similarly  S.  Peter  bids  his 
converts  "  not  use  their  freedom  for  a  cloak  of  wicked- 
ness, but  as  bondservants  of  God."  The  fugitive  slave 
is  sent  back  to  his  master,  Philemon,  with  this  signifi- 
cant message  :  "  Perhaps  he  was  therefore  parted  from 
thee  for  a  season,  that  thou  shouldest  have  him  for  ever ; 
no  longer  as  a  servant,  but  more  than  a  servant,  a 
brother  beloved,  specially  to  me,  but  how  much  rather 
to  thee,  both  in  the  flesh  and  in  the  Lord." 

Such,  then,  was  S.  Paul's  teaching.  Christianity  is 
indifferent  to  circumstances,  because  it  directs  itself 
to  the  true  creator  and  master  of  circumstances,  the 
man  himself.  The  time  came  when  the  civilized  world 
ceased  to  be  nominally  pagan  and  constituted  a  Christen- 
dom. How  would  the  apostle's  doctrine  suit  the  new 
conditions  ?  Two  applications  of  it  have  been  generally 
made.  There  have  been  those  who,  insistent  on  the  letter 

228 


Christianity  and  Society 

of  His  teaching,  have  represented  the  religion  of  Christ 
as  wholly  unconcerned  with  the  secular  conditions  of 
human  life.  There  have  been  others,  especially  in  these 
later  times,  who,  fastening  on  the  spirit  of  the  message, 
have  claimed  for  the  religion  of  Christ  a  foremost 
place  in  the  reformation  of  human  circumstances.  It 
can  hardly  be  questioned  that  a  high  estimate  of  human 
nature,  the  habit  of  mental  and  moral  self-respect,  will 
of  themselves  rectify  circumstances  and  raise  the 
general  level  of  life.  Moreover,  they  will  predispose 
men  to  dislike  everything  that  is  plainly  incongruous 
with  a  worthy  treatment  of  human  nature,  and  stir 
them  up  to  an  active  sympathy  with  every  policy 
which  makes  for  the  improvement  of  human  life. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  this  has  been  universally 
true  wherever  the  facts  of  life  have,  so  to  speak,  been 
within  the  control  of  the  individual  Christian.  The 
Christian  slave-holder  in  the  Southern  States  of 
America  did  not  see  that  his  religion  prohibited  slave- 
holding,  and  quoted  the  sacred  precedent  of  Onesimus 
as  settling  the  question,  but  he  cared  for  the  interests 
of  his  slaves,  and  fulfilled  towards  them  a  ministry  of 
fraternal  service.  He  was  rather  lacking  in  imagination 
than  mistaken  in  belief.  If  he  could  have  widened  his 
view  until  it  embraced  the  whole  significance  of  slave- 
holding — the  brutal  processes  by  which  the  slave 
market  was  replenished,  the  shameful  breaking  up  of 
families,  the  miserable  degradation  of  so  many  human 
beings,  the  moral  degradation  of  the  slave-owning 
class  as  a  whole — he  would  have  realized  that  a  sound 
judgment  on  the  subject  could  not  possibly  be  formed 
on  the  narrow  basis  of  his  personal  experience,  that 

229 


Westminster  Sermons 

slave-holding  could  not  reasonably  be  judged  in  this 
and  that  example  of  generous  and  responsible  owner- 
ship, but  must  be  taken  as  a  whole  and  decided  upon 
in  all  its  bearings.  Lack  of  imagination  perhaps  still 
explains  the  extreme  reluctance  manifested  by  some 
excellent  Christians  to  make  any  change  in  social 
arrangements,  which,  so  far  as  they  come  within  their 
own  experience,  are  fairly  satisfactory.  If  but  they 
could  take  a  larger  and  a  less  personal  view  of  the 
question  at  issue,  they  would  see  it  more  truly,  because 
its  many  and  various  ramifications  would  lie  before 
them.  This,  to  give  but  a  single  example,  has 
commonly  been  the  fault  of  the  Anglican  churchman, 
when  he  has  had  to  make  up  his  mind  on  some 
proposal  for  altering  the  quasi-feudal  system  on  which 
rural  life  in  England  has  until  recently  proceeded. 
He  has  refused  to  see  more  than  the  bare  fact  that 
the  system,  as  it  works  in  his  own  village,  works 
without  friction  or  difficulty ;  and  he  does  not  perceive 
that  elsewhere  it  works  very  badly,  and  everywhere 
is  dangerously  out  of  "harmony  with  the  beliefs  and 
aspirations  of  the  people.  The  Pauline  aphorism, 
'  The  letter  killeth,  the  spirit  giveth  life,"  is  nowhere 
more  conspicuously  illustrated  than  in  the  case  of  the 
apostle's  social  teachings.  The  letter  of  those  teach- 
ings belongs  to  an  age  far  distant  from  our  own,  and 
reflects  the  conditions  and  the  temper  of  a  civilization 
very  remote  from  ours.  When  we  read  this  seventh 
chapter  of  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  we 
are  perplexed  and  perhaps  disconcerted  by  the  implied 
conception  of  the  relation  of  the  sexes,  and  by  the 
apparent  unconsciousness  of  the  outrage  of  slavery 

230 


Christianity  and  Society 

which  marks  the  text.    When,  however,  we  seek  to 
penetrate  through   the   letter   to   the   spirit  of  the 
teaching,  we  find  that  teaching  to  possess  perpetual 
relevance  and  a  wisdom  which  never  fails.    That  the 
creator  and  ruler  of  circumstances  is  the  man  himself, 
and  that  therefore  no  rectification  of  circumstances 
which  leaves  the   man   unaltered   will  permanently 
serve  him,  are  truths  equally  unpalatable  and  neces- 
sary, which  serious  social  reformers  can  never  afford 
to  forget.    Probably  most  serious  reformers,  however 
greatly  they  might  differ  as  to  the  degree  of  importance 
which  ought  to  be  ascribed  to  circumstances  in  the 
scheme  of  a  human  life,  and  however  various  might 
be  their  conception  of  the  best  form  into  which  circum- 
stances should  be  refashioned,  would  yet  agree  that  in 
the  man  himself  must  be  found  the  key  to  the  social 
problem,  and  that  any  social  policy  which  ignores  the 
fact   of  individual   character   is    self-condemned  of 
shallowness  and  futility.    S.   Paul   would  certainly 
have  maintained  that  this  key  to  the  social  problem 
is  provided  by,  and  can  only  be  provided  by,  the 
religion  of  Jesus.     To  preach  self-respect  and  self- 
control  to  the  bond-slave  of  fleshly  appetite,  or  selfish 
prejudice,  or  degrading  error,  is  a  vain  task.  There 
must  be  an  initial  and  preliminary  process  of  moral 
enfranchisement  and  illumination  before  the  individual 
can  be  trusted  with  the  handling  of  any  circumstances, 
and,  once  that  process  has  taken  place,  he  will  not  sink 
under  the  worst  circumstances.    S.  Paul  can  bid  the 
converted  slave  acquiesce  in  his  servitude  because  he 
can  address  him  as  "  the  Lord's  freedman."    He  can 
offer  a  motive  for  acquiescence   which   strips  it  of 

231 


Westminster  Sermons 


servility,  and  even  invests  it  with  spiritual  dignity  : 
"  Ye  were  bought  with  a  price ;  become  not  the  bond- 
servants of  men." 

Was  S.  Paul  mistaken,  think  you,  in  thus  insisting 
on  the  necessity  of  Christianity  as  the  principle  of 
human  enfranchisement  ?  At  least,  those  who  refuse 
to  accept  his  teaching  have  not  yet  succeded  in  finding 
any  effectual  substitute  for  Christianity.  It  is  the  open 
secret  of  democracy  that  it  is  perplexed  and  alarmed  by 
this  failure.  There  are  many  who  proclaim  the  Christian 
motive  for  virtue  to  have  failed,  and  the  Christian 
sanction  for  virtue  to  have  been  disallowed,  who  yet 
perforce  acknowledge  that  the}'  can  find  no  other  motive 
and  no  other  sanction  which  will  serve  their  turn. 
Democracy,  by  the  confession  of  its  own  prophets,  is 
threatened  with  moral  bankruptcy,  and  this  in  spite  of 
the  immense  efforts  to  improve  the  circumstances  of 
men.  We,  to  whom  the  motive  and  the  sanction  of 
Christianity  yet  remain  valid  and  convincing,  cannot 
but  take  account  of  this  helplessness  of  the  modern 
world  apart  from  Christ,  and  if  we  admit,  as  of  course 
we  must,  that  there  must  be  offered  other  and  more  con- 
vincing proofs  before  the  case  for  Christianity  can  be 
made  out,  yet  we  may  reasonably  find  here  a  confirmation 
of  our  own  belief,  and  the  right  to  assume  from  thought- 
ful men  an  audience,  close  and  sympathetic,  for  our 
apology.  To  the  modern  world  the  Church  can  say 
what  S.  Paul  said  to  the  ancient :  "  We  preach  Christ 
crucified,  unto  Jews  a  stumbling-block,  and  unto 
Gentiles  foolishness ;  but  unto  them  that  are  being 
called,  both  Jews  and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God, 
and  the  wisdom  of  God." 


232 


XVIII 


THE  SOCIAL  INFLUENCE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY1 

YE  ARE  THE  SALT  OF  THE  EARTH. — S.  MATTHEW  V.  13. 

There  are  no  speculations  at  once  more  attractive 
and  more  precarious  than  those  which  aspire  to  estimate 
the  social  results  of  religions.  The  attractiveness  is 
manifest  and  intelligible.  Religion  is  the  most  deeply 
interesting  thing  in  the  world,  alike  to  the  man  whom 
it  attracts  and  the  man  whom  it  repels.  Religion 
appeals  to  the  deepest  elements  of  human  nature,  and 
it  raises  every  question  into  which  it  enters  to  a  higher 
than  the  earthly  plane.  The  conscience  is  directly 
concerned  :  the  heart  is  directly  affected  :  the  imagina- 
tion is  powerfully  stirred  by  every  religious  appeal. 
There  is  always  the  solemn  charm  of  unpenetrated 
mystery,  the  chance,  ever  moving  in  the  background  of 
the  mind  and  disturbing  the  order  of  rational  thought, 
that  there  may  be  the  truth  in  claims  apparently  the 
most  extravagant,  validity  in  reasonings  apparently 
the  most  grotesque.  In  the  religious  sphere  the  human 
spirit  is  oppressed  by  an  ignorance  so  profound  that  a 
positive  attitude  seems  almost  an  outrage  on  modesty. 
Where  it  is  certain  that  all  know  so  little,  who  shall  be 

1  Preached  on  the  2nd  Sunday  after  Trinity,  June  28,  1908,  in 
S.  Margaret's,  Westminster. 


233 


Westminster  Sermons 


sure  that  he  really  knows  anything  at  all  ?  There  is, 
however,  no  subject  upon  which  so  much  freedom  of 
assertion  is  tolerated.  The  results  of  religion  upon  the 
characters  and  fortunes  of  nations  are  reckoned  up,  and 
set  down  with  strange  and  disconcerting  precision,  and 
the  estimates  are  as  various  as  they  are  precise.  These 
estimates,  indeed,  appear  for  the  most  part  to  reflect 
rather  the  prejudices  of  their  authors  than  the  con- 
clusions of  serious  inquiry  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  discover 
the  principles  of  criticism  which  have  been  followed. 
Yet  it  would  seem  that  no  inquiries  more  plainly  demand 
careful  adhesion  to  sound  principles.  For  none  are 
more  inherently  difficult.  The  complexity  of  human 
life  is  such  that  no  force  acts  in  isolation.  There  is  a 
subtle  interplay  of  forces  out  of  which  results  emerge 
which  may  not  rightly  be  ascribed  to  any  one  influence. 
Moreover,  causes  disguise  themselves  wonderfully;  and 
the  effects  of  one  cause  readily  pose  as  the  effects  of 
another.  A  large  uncertainty,  therefore,  must  always 
attach  to  all  conclusions  as  to  the  social  results  of 
religion. 

"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."  Our  Lord  in  these 
words  distinctly  attributes  to  the  society  of  His  Church 
the  character  of  a  social  force.  "  Salt  "  is  the  familiar 
symbol  of  that  which  purifies  and  preserves.  Among 
the  Jews  it  was  not  merely,  as  among  ourselves,  an 
article  of  common  domestic  use,  but  also  an  important 
element  in  the  established  religious  ceremonial. 

"The  use  of  salt  at  the  temple"  says  the  puritan  rabbinist 
LiGHTFOOT,  "  was  exceeding  much  :  for  nothing  was  laid  on  the 
altar  unsalted,  but  only  the  wood,  the  blood,  and  the  wine  of  the 
drink-offering  :  and  how  much  salt  might  be  spent  upon  all  their 
sacrifices,  let  anyone  imagine  :  for  this  was  the  law,  '  With  all 


234 


The  Social  Influence  of  Christianity 


thine  offerings  thou  shalt  offer  salt.'  And  they  had  not  this  way 
only  for  the  spending  of  salt  :  but  they  also  salted  the  skins  of  all 
the  sacrifices,  when  they  had  flayed  them  off.  For  the  skins 
belonged  to  the  priests  as  their  fee  :  the  course  therefore  of  the 
priests  that  was  in  serving  did  still  salt  the  skins  of  what  sacrifices 
they  offered,  that  they  might  not  be  offensive,  and  kept  them  till 
the  end  of  the  week  of  their  service  :  and  on  the  eve  of  the  sabbath, 
towards  night,  they  divided  them  to  everyone  his  share." 1 

Elsewhere  in  the  gospel  our  Lord  refers  directly  to 
this  ceremonial  use  of  salt.  "  For  every  one  shall  be 
salted  with  fire.  Salt  is  good  :  but  if  the  salt  hath  lost 
its  saltness,  wherewith  will  ye  season  it  ?  Have  salt  in 
yourselves,  and  be  at  peace  one  with  another."  An 
ancient  reading,  now  relegated  by  the  revisers  to  the 
margin,  adds  the  words,  "  And  every  sacrifice  shall  be 
salted  with  salt." 

"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."  Our  Lord  avoids  the 
abstract  terms  in  which  modern  teachers  express  and 
disguise  their  thought.  We  are  apt  to  forget  that 
"  Christianity  "  is  only  a  synonym  for  Christians  them- 
selves, when  we  are  discussing  social  questions.  "  Ye," 
— My  disciples — "  are  the  salt  of  the  earth." 

"The  influence  of  the  Church  on  society  means  in  its  ultimate 
shape  the  influence  of  those  who  compose  it.  The  Christian 
Church  is  to  be  the  salt  of  the  nations  if  Christians  are  true  to 
their  belief  and  equal  to  their  claim.  Nothing  can  make  it  so  ; 
nothing  can  secure  that  what  has  been,  shall  be,  if  they  are  not. 
And  so  we  are  brought  back  to  the  secret  which  our  Lord's  words 
intimate— the  great  secret  of  personal  influence,  the  key  of  great 
movements,  the  soul  of  all  that  is  deep  and  powerful,  both  in  what 
lasts  and  in  what  makes  change."  2 

Perhaps  the  safest  guide  to  a  due  estimate  of  the 
social  influence  of  Christianity  in  the  world  is  to  be 

1  Vide  "  Works,"  ix.,  p.  376. 

*  Vide  Church,  "Gifts  of  Civilization,"  p.  118,  9. 


235 


Westminster  Sermons 


found  in  the  study  of  individual  discipleship.  How 
does  his  religion  affect  the  Christian  in  society  ?  How 
far  can  his  social  practice  be  interpreted  by  his  belief  ? 
Evidently  to  a  very  large  extent  the  social  conduct  and 
influence  of  the  Christian  have,  and  can  have,  no 
relation  to  his  personal  religion.  The  determining 
causes  of  his  action  lie  for  the  most  part  outside  the 
range  of  his  own  choice.  His  place  in  society  is  pre- 
scribed for  him  ;  his  powers  of  body  and  mind  are  not 
such  as  he  might  have  chosen  for  himself ;  he  acts 
under  the  influence  of  laws,  traditions,  customs,  con- 
ventions, fashions,  which  are  almost  as  far  removed 
from  his  control  as  the  climate  or  the  weather.  Where, 
then,  is  there  any  room  for  the  action  of  religion  ? 
How  shall  he  be  the  "salt  of  the  earth  "  on  which  he 
lives  in  bonds  ? 

I  cannot  think  that  it  is  sufficient  to  answer  that  he 
must  be  truthful,  honest,  just,  industrious.  So  much  is 
required  of  all  good  citizens ;  so  much  the  general 
consent  of  reasonable  men  demands  and  approves. 
Without  doubt  the  Christian  will  have  motives  for  his 
civic  virtue  which  his  religion,  and  only  his  religion, 
can  provide ;  but  we  are  not  now  discussing  motives. 
The  social  worth  of  virtue  is  to  a  great  extent  indepen- 
dent of  its  motives.  The  distinctive  social  influence  of 
the  Christian  citizen  will  be  found  to  lie  wholly  within 
the  category  of  personal  character.  How  far  does  the 
Christian  gain  for  himself  "  the  mind  of  Christ "  ? 
How  far  does  his  social  influence  reflect  the  Christian 
character  ? 

The  sermon  on  the  mount  opens  with  a  description 
of  the  Christian  character.    This  is  the  subject  of  the 

236 


The  Social  Influence  of  Christianity 

beatitudes.  Christ  declares  what  moral  qualities  and 
attitudes  go  to  the  making  of  that  social  influence  which 
His  disciples  exercise,  and  which  constitutes  them  the 
"  salt  "  and  the  "  light  "  of  human  society.  These 
qualities  which  our  Lord  pronounces  "  blessed  "  appear 
to  be  the  precise  opposites  of  the  social  qualities  most 
natural  to  mankind.  Would  it  be  an  extravagant 
caricature  of  the  social  teaching  which,  though  mani- 
festly not  Christian,  yet  tends  to  prevail  in  nominally 
Christian  society  if  we  were  to  express  it  as  the  beatifi- 
cation of  those  dispositions  and  procedures  which 
contradict  Christ's  beatitudes  ? 

Blessed — so  runs  the  sinister  parody  of  the  modern 
world — are  they  who  have  a  high  notion  of  their  own 
rights,  for  they  shall  secure  deference  and  regard. 

Blessed  are  the  light-hearted  and  the  unthinking,  for 
they  shall  enjoy  life. 

Blessed  are  the  ambitious,  for  they  shall  rise  in  the 
world. 

Blessed  are  the  opportunists,  for  they  shall  escape 
disaster. 

Blessed  are  the  close-fisted,  for  they  shall  make 
money. 

Blessed  are  the  self-indulgent,  for  they  shall  make 
the  most  of  life. 

Blessed  are  the  litigious  and  self-assertive,  for  they 
shall  inherit  the  earth. 

Blessed  are  the  time-serving,  for  they  shall  be 
honoured. 

Such  a  bitter  summary  as  this  appears  to  me  some- 
thing more  than  a  caricature  of  the  worldly  wisdom 
which  is  commonly  held  to  be  the  secret  of  success,  and 

237 


Westminster  Sermons 


which  wonderfully  affects  the  procedure  of  current 
society. 

"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."  Christians  are  to  be 
the  living  contradictions  and  disproofs  of  this  worldly 
wisdom  by  setting  before  society  the  spectacle  of  lives 
governed  by  other  principles,  directed  to  other  ends,  and 
so  far  as  they  indeed  do  this  the}7  bring  into  the  world's 
life  a  purifying  influence  which  restrains  the  normal 
tendencies  towards  corruption,  and  quickens  society 
with  a  new  moral  energy. 

We  know,  of  course,  but  too  well  that  Christian  lives 
are  often  strangely  unworthy  expositions  of  the  mind  of 
Christ.  We  know  also  in  our  own  experience  how 
prone  the  multitude  is  to  attribute  to  Christianity  the 
very  faults  which  Christianity  has  been  unable  to 
restrain.  The  ill-conduct  of  Christians  is  a  great,  nay, 
the  very  greatest  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of 
Christianity,  though  in  itself  such  ill-conduct  argues 
nothing  against  the  religion  it  flouts  and  disgraces.  The 
student  of  civilization  must  be  on  his  guard  against 
crediting  Christianity  with  results  which  properly 
indicate  that  Christianity  had  failed  of  its  purpose.  It 
is  easy  enough  to  build  up  a  formidable  case  against 
Christ's  religion  if  you  limit  your  inquiry  and  select 
your  facts.  Thus  it  has  been  argued  with  much 
plausibility  that  Christianity  has  favoured  slavery, 
resisted  political  liberty,  even  degraded  woman.  For 
all  these  contentions  unquestionably  much  may  be  said. 
There  is  a  copious  literature  of  social  and  political 
servility  which  professes  to  be  Christian,  and  the 
doctrines  of  asceticism  were  certainly  degrading  to  the 
female  sex ;  and  yet  a  very  little  reflection  will  demon- 

238 


The  Social  Influence  of  Christianity 

strate  the  paradoxical  character  of  all  such  contentions. 
The  broad,  outstanding  characteristics  of  Christian 
civilization  disallow  so  unfavourable  an  estimate  of  the 
Christian  religion.  "  The  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits." 
Slavery  has  perished  throughout  Christendom,  and 
servile  conditions  are  perishing.  Political  liberty  is 
unknown  outside  the  sphere  of  Christianity,  and  social 
libertv,  a  far  more  difficult  thing,  is  only  there  even 
partially  attained.  Within  Christendom  alone  is  the 
position  of  '  woman  comparatively  honourable  and 
secure.  I  am  perforce  speaking  briefly  and  positively, 
but  neither  carelessly  nor  without  study  of  the  facts. 
I  submit  that  the  distinctive  features  of  Christian 
civilization  vindicate  Christianity  from  the  suspicions 
which  some  facts  of  Christian  history  suggest.  The 
true  influence  of  Christ's  religion,  however,  shows  itself 
on  a  broad  view  of  the  facts,  and  we  should  be  mad 
reasoners  if  we  interpreted  the  details  without  regard  to 
the  general  effect. 

"  It  is  simply  a  fact  of  history,"  observed  that  wise  and  cautious 
thinker,  Dean  CHURCH,  "  that  Christianity  and  the  Christian 
Church  have  exerted  on  human  society  a  moral  influence  which 
justifies  the  figures  by  which  it  was  described — an  influence  more 
profound,  more  extensive,  more  enduring,  and  more  eventful  than 
any  that  the  world  has  seen."  1 

There  is  a  further  consideration.  The  subject-matter 
upon  which  Christianity  has  to  act  is  difficult  and 
intractable.  Human  nature,  as  it  is  displayed  in 
history,  is  strange  material  from  which  to  fashion  the 
fair  creations  of  social  righteousness.  It  takes  impres- 
sions gradually  ;  it  learns  slowly  and  by  definite  stages. 


1  Vide  "  Gifts  of  Civilization,"  p.  97. 
239 


Westminster  Sermons 

It  would  seem  that  the  elements  and  postulates  of 
right  have  to  be  beaten  in  to  the  dull  intelligence  of  the 
race  one  by  one.  Here,  perhaps,  is  the  explanation  of 
some  of  the  problems  of  Christian  history.  How  can 
you  reconcile,  it  is  asked,  the  severe  penitential  system 
of  the  early  Church  with  the  compassion  of  the  Gospel  ? 
or  the  extravagant  exaltation  of  celibacy  with  the 
Christian  doctrine  of  marriage  ?  or  the  detailed  and 
tyrannous  legalism  of  the  mediaeval  Church  with  the 
spirituality  of  Christ's  teaching  ?  Perhaps  the  answer 
must  in  every  case  be  found  in  the  actual  conditions 
of  men's  apprehension  of  spiritual  truth.  Before  the 
compassion  of  the  gospel  can  minister  to  righteousness, 
the  gravity  of  sin  must  have  been  grasped,  and  that 
lesson  was  effectually  taught  to  the  semi-pagan  converts 
by  the  iron  system  of  primitive  penance.  Before  the 
true  nobility  of  marriage  can  be  understood,  men  must 
learn  the  obligation  of  self-control,  and  that  obligation 
was  burnt  into  the  barbarian  mind  by  the  ascetics. 
Before  spiritual  liberty  can  be  safely  proposed,  the 
majesty  of  law  must  have  been  understood,  and  that 
was,  perhaps,  borne  in  on  men's  intelligence  by  the 
masterful  government  of  the  mediaeval  Church.  The 
religious  education  of  the  race  is  an  advancing  process. 
The  truth  is  not  grasped  at  once,  or  as  a  whole,  but 
gradually  and  fragmentarily ;  here  a  little  and  there  a 
little,  as  men  are  able  to  bear  it.  The  partial  teaching, 
regarded  from  the  plane  of  complete  knowledge,  has  a 
repulsive  aspect  ;  insisted  on  in  the  face  of  wider 
teachings,  it  may  be  deeply  false ;  but  it  should  never 
be  forgotten  that  there  was  once  a  time  when  it 
matched  the  urgent  needs  of  the  race.    The  influence 

240 


The  Social  Influence  of  Christianity 

of  Christianity  has  ever  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
human  societies  which  were  not  of  Christian  fashioning. 
It  has  thus  taken  a  myriad  forms,  addressing  itself  to 
the  varying  conditions  of  human  living ;  but  always 
this  is  its  claim,  and  this  the  facts  attest,  it  has  been  a 
purifying  and  preserving  force — "the  salt  of  the  earth." 

Three  contributions,  perhaps,  are  ever  made  by 
Christianity  to  the  life  of  society. 

First,  the  gospel  brings  to  the  world  the  gift  of  social 
hope.  It  upholds  a  social  idea,  not  as  a  mere  aspiration, 
still  less  as  a  satire  on  the  world's  life,  but  as  something 
practicable,  which  can  be  gained,  and  which  shall  be 
gained.  The  Christian  may  not  despair  of  society, 
however  unpromising  the  social  outlook  may  be.  He 
believes  that  the  Almighty  has  a  purpose  to  fulfil  in 
human  history,  and  that  the  course  of  the  world's  life 
is  not  wholly  independent  of  His  will. 

Next,  the  gospel  brings  to  everyone  who  receives  it 
the  conviction  that  social  service  is  a  religious  duty. 
To  withdraw  selfishly  from  the  tasks  and  risks  of  social 
life,  whether  in  despair  or  in  self-absorption,  is  the 
repudiation  of  a  divine  commission.  Every  Christian 
must  feel  a  certain  responsibility  for  the  world's  sin,  and 
for  the  sorrows  which  at  once  reflect  and  avenge  it. 
Christ's  example  challenges  and  commissions  every 
disciple.  "  We  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent 
me  while  it  is  day :  the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can 
work."  The  world  is  saved  from  acquiescing  in  its 
scandals  by  the  divine  indignation  of  Christ's  disciples. 
There  is  no  conspicuous  evil  of  human  society  which 
has  not  provoked  the  resentment  of  the  Christian 
conscience.     In  the  background  of  every  Christian's 

241  Q 


Westminster  Sermons 

mind  is  the  conviction  that  it  is  his  duty  to  resist  evil 
where  it  meets  him,  and  to  attack  abuses  when  they 
cross  his  path. 

Finally,  the  gospel  brings  to  everyone  who  receives 
it  the  conviction  that  personal  righteousness  is  a  social 
duty,  and  the  condition  of  social  service.  Primarily  the 
Christian's  task  is  to  illustrate  in  his  own  sphere  the 
"  mind  of  Christ."  The  Christian  conscience  has 
always  chafed  against  any  severance  of  the  disciple's 
practice  from  his  profession.  Here  is  an  illustration. 
In  the  early  centuries  the  custom  obtained  among 
persons  who  made  pretensions  to  piety  to  adorn  their 
garments  with  sacred  pictures  in  place  of  those 
commonly  adopted. 

"  Bedizened  with  such  figures  they  supposed— as  AUSTERIUS, 
Bishop  of  Amasia  in  Pontus  in  the  last  half  of  the  fourth  century 
asserts — that  their  dress  must  be  well  approved  in  the  sight  of 
God.  This  excellent  Churchman  advises  them  rather  to  dispose  of 
such  garments  for  as  much  as  they  would  bring,  and  use  the  pro- 
ceeds to  honour  the  living  images  of  God  ;  instead  of  carrying 
about  the  sick  of  the  palsy  on  their  garments  rather  to  look  up  the 
actually  sick  and  relieve  them  ;  instead  of  wearing  on  their  bodies 
a  kneeling  penitent  in  embroidery,  rather  to  mourn  over  their  own 
sins  with  a  penitent  spirit."  1 

Such  has  always  been  the  attitude  of  the  Christian 
conscience  towards  the  parade  of  piety.  Translate 
your  creed  into  conduct :  give  a  social  expression  to 
discipleship  :  be  yourself  the  illustration  of  your  religion. 
In  so  contributing  to  the  world's  life  the  elements  of 
hope,  of  duty,  and  of  personal  discipline,  Christianity 
counteracts  deep  normal  tendencies  making  for  cor- 
ruption and  decay,  and  literally  fulfils  the  Word  of  the 
divine  Founder :  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth." 

1  Neander,  "  General  Church  History,"  iii.,  p.  388. 
242 


The  Social  Influence  of  Christianity 

The  civilization  of  antiquity  broke  down  beneath  the 
burden  of  its  own  corruption.  The  machinery  of  govern- 
ment could  notendure  the  cynical  selfishness  of  those  who 
worked  it.  Philosophy  had  no  message  of  hope,  no 
power  of  moral  restoration,  no  coercive  motive  of  self- 
discipline.    It  sank  into  satire  and  pessimism. 

The  civilizations  of  the  east  appear  to  contain  no 
quickening  principle,  which  shall  be  a  power  in  men's 
minds  detecting  abuses,  waging  war  with  them,  always 
straining  and  striving  after  social  advance.  They 
petrify  and  perish. 

The  latest  civilization  of  the  west,  if  by  so  great  a 
name  we  may  describe  the  attempts  which  mark  our 
time  to  banish  the  Christian  elements  from  a  society 
which  has  reached  its  present  position  under  the  tutelary 
influence  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  appear  to  discover  a 
fatal  inability  to  secure  uprightness  of  character. 
Prodigal  of  brave  doctrines  of  social  duty,  the  secularist 
is  doomed  to  see  his  projects  dashed  to  pieces  on  the 
sunken  rocks  of  human  selfishness. 

Christianity  in  the  social  sphere  stands  for  hope,  and 
the  sense  of  duty,  and  personal  righteousness  :  and — let 
us  lay  it  well  to  heart — Christianity  is  in  ihis  connection 
but  the  sum  of  the  influence  of  individual  Christian 
lives.  Upon  us  all,  who  own  ourselves  the  disciples  of 
Christ,  who  in  our  baptism  were  solemnly  sealed  as 
His  "  soldiers  and  servants,"  lies  the  great  obligation  to 
be,  in  our  several  places  and  situations,  the  exponents 
of  the  gospel,  not  merely,  if  at  all,  in  word  of  formal 
teaching,  but  always  in  the  silent,  ceaseless  testimony 
of  righteous  lives,  lives  which  bear  visibly  the  Christian 
stamp,  which  are  a  continual  rebuke  to  all  the  baseness 

243  «  2 


Westminster  Sermons 

of  the  world,  a  continual  challenge  to  all  the  goodness 
latent  in  society,  lives  which,  wherever  lived — in  cottage 
or  in  palace,  in  the  heart  of  mighty  cities  or  amid  the 
solemn  silences  of  immemorial  hills — are  a  force  of 
purification  and  preservation  in  the  general  life,  the 
"  salt  "  and  "  light  "  of  the  world. 


244 


XIX 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  DUTY  TO  RESPECT 
THE  GENERAL  CONSCIENCE1 

TAKE  THOUGHT  FOR  THINGS  HONOURABLE  IN  THE  SIGHT  OF  ALL 
MEN. — ROMANS  xii.  17. 

The  student  of  S.  Paul's  writings  takes  from  his 
study  a  deep  admiration,  and  something  near  to  a 
personal  affection  for  the  apostle.  The  other  writers  of 
the  New  Testament  are  either  altogether  unknown,  as 
the  author  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  perhaps  the 
author  of  the  Johannine  writings,  or  as  with  S.  Peter 
and  S.  James  we  know  but  little  of  their  history,  and 
are  unable  to  read  what  they  have  written  in  connection 
with  the  objects  they  were  at  the  time  pursuing.  With 
S.  Paul  the  case  is  different ;  we  are  able  to  follow  his 
arduous  life  almost  from  first  to  last,  and  there  is  no 
one  of  his  epistles  which  cannot  with  fair  probability  be 
placed  in  its  true  historic  context,  and  connected  with 
the  circumstances  which  induced  and  coloured  its 
composition.  The  apostle  was  one  of  the  men  whose 
characters  are  displayed  to  view  in  their  writings  ;  both 
the  charm  and  the  obscurity  of  the  Pauline  epistles 
arise  from  the  frank  self-exhibition  of  the  author. 
Perhaps  in  no  religious  writings  is  the  personal  equation 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  Septuagesima, 
February  i6,  1908. 


245 


Westminster  Sermons 


so  important,  for  in  none  is  the  personal  point  of  view 
more  constantly  adopted.  Especially  in  his  applica- 
tions of  faith  to  practice  is  this  to  be  borne  in  mind. 
The  apostle  was  the  most  honest  and  humble  of  men, 
and  he  would  not  press  as  duties  on  others  what  he  had 
not  perceived  and  accepted  as  duties  in  his  own  case. 
It  is  a  frequent  practice  with  him  to  illustrate  his  moral 
teaching  by  describing  his  own  action.  He  seems  to 
shrink  from  taking  a  merely  external  attitude,  and 
exhorting  his  converts  as  from  some  raised  chair  of 
authority.  He  would  rather  stand  on  the  same  level 
with  them,  and  offer  his  own  example  as  that  of  an  elder 
brother  marked  out  by  his  position  and  relationship  for 
their  moral  assistance.  The  more  deeply  he  is  moved 
on  any  matter,  the  more  he  inclines  to  this  egotistic 
method  of  moral  teaching.  Thus,  when  he  would 
restrain  the  "  stronger  "  members  of  the  Corinthian 
Church  from  so  using  their  spiritual  liberty  in  respect 
of  non-essentials  as  to  wound  the  conscience  of  their 
"weaker"  brethren,  he  sums  up  his  teaching  in  a 
personal  declaration : — 

"  Wherefore,  if  meat  maketh  my  brother  to  stumble,  I  will  eat 
no  flesh  for  evermore,  that  I  make  not  my  brother  to  stumble." 

So,  also,  when  he  would  assert  against  the  self- 
confident  neophytes  of  Corinth  the  indispensableness 
of  self-discipline,  if  indeed  they  were  to  escape  the 
corruption  of  pagan  sensuality,  he  propitiates  their 
vanity,  and  challenges  their  conscience  by  speaking 
of  his  own  practice  : — 

"  I  therefore  so  run,  as  not  uncertainly  ;  so  fight  1,  as  not  beating 
the  air ;  but  I  buffet  my  body,  and  bring  it  into  bondage,  lest  by 

246 


Duty  to  Respect  General  Conscience 

any  means,  after  that  I  have  preached  to  others,  I  myself  should 
be  rejected." 

Therefore,  in  S.  Paul's  case,  it  is  possible  to  argue 
back  from  his  precepts  to  his  personal  practice  more 
confidently  than  in  the  case  of  most  religious  teachers. 
Always,  I  suppose,  save  in  the  happily  rare  case  of 
conscious  and  complete  hypocrisy,  the  habitual  teaching 
of  a  man  throws  light  on  his  personal  character,  for  it 
cannot  but  reflect  in  some  degree  his  idiosyncrasy,  and 
discover  the  set  of  his  interests ;  but  in  most  cases,  as 
we  know  but  too  well,  there  is  a  lamentable  discrepancy 
between  the  teacher's  admonitions  and  his  own  behaviour, 
and  there  are  indeed  few  of  us,  who  carry  this  burden  of 
the  teacher's  office,  who  have  not  to  pray  our  hearers 
not  to  accept  us  as  the  satisfactory  exponents  of  the 
truth  we  declare.  We  are  happily  assisted  in  our 
understanding  of  the  precept  in  the  text  by  two 
examples  of  its  practical  application  indicated  by 
S.  Paul  himself.  A  little  way  on  in  the  epistle  to 
the  Romans  he  deals  with  the  duty  of  Christians  with 
reference  to  what  he  calls  "  doubtful  disputations,"  that 
is,  questions  of  practice  which  fairly  admitted  of  diverse 
answers,  and  were  therefore  the  subjects  of  discussion 
within  the  Church.  Rules  of  fasting,  discrimination 
between  foods,  observance  of  holy  days,  and  similar 
matters  came  within  this  description.  It  is  clear 
enough  that  the  apostle  himself  inclined  to  agree 
with  those  who  held  lightly  by  all  these  positive  rules, 
which  counted  for  so  much  in  the  religious  systems 
both  of  Jews  and  of  Gentiles.  He  would  not,  however, 
allow  his  personal  preference  to  weigh  in  the  scales  ;  he 
would  not  make  his  own  opinion  the  rule  of  the  Church. 

247 


Westminster  Sermons 

For,  indeed,  he  could  see  the  whole  issue  with  the  eyes 
of  a  statesman  as  well  as  with  those  of  a  pastor.  In  the 
one  case,  he  perceived  the  risks  of  creating  unnecessary 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  gospel  by  tying  up  his 
message  with  demands  which  were  extremely  distaste- 
ful to  non-Christians,  and  from  the  Christian  point  of 
view  indifferent.  In  the  other  case,  he  perceived  the 
wounds  to  conscience  and  to  character  which  an  un- 
checked indulgence  of  personal  preferences,  albeit 
themselves  harmless,  would  inevitably  inflict.  Christian 
liberty  exercised  without  regard  to  charity  would  cease 
to  be  Christian,  and  could  hardly  remain  in  any  worthy 
sense  liberty.  Just  opinions  intemperately  asserted 
would  convey  false  impressions.  This  is  the  point  at 
which  the  admonition  of  the  text  is  to  be  applied. 
"  Take  thought  for  things  honourable  in  the  sight  of  all 
men  "  says  the  apostle.  Avoid  such  an  exercise  of  your 
rights  as  must,  on  a  reasonable  estimate  of  probabilities, 
lead  to  misunderstanding  of  your  intentions.  "  Let  not 
your  good  be  evil  spoken  of."  You  must,  as  reasonable 
and  charitable  men,  take  account  of  the  state  of  other 
minds  than  your  own ;  actions  are  not  interpreted  by 
the  doer  of  them,  but  by  the  observer;  and  his  interpre- 
tation will  in  a  large  degree  be  determined  by  the 
pre-suppositions  and  associations  with  which  his  mind 
is  furnished.  S.  Paul  had  learned  by  experience  the 
perverting  power  of  prejudice,  and  he  spoke  out  of  a  full 
heart.  The  student  of  the  sub-apostolic  age  knows  how 
widespread  and  how  extravagant  was  the  misunder- 
standing of  the  Pauline  teaching.  In  a  document  of 
the  period,  which  has  found  a  place  within  the  New 
Testament,  the  second  epistle  of  S.  Peter,  we  read  that 

248 


Duty  to  Respect  General  Conscience 

there  were  "  ignorant  and  unstedfast  "  Christians  who 
"  wrested  to  their  own  destruction  "  the  writings  of  the 
apostle  ;  and  to  this  day  antinomianism  has  claimed  to 
justify  its  ruinous  error  by  passages  from  S.  Paul's 
epistles.  The  apostle's  ill-fortune  in  this  respect  adds 
a  pathetic  interest  to  his  counsels;  like  Baxter  in  a 
later  age,  he  seemed  to  his  own  contemporaries  the 
most  controversial  and  doctrinally  audacious  of  teachers; 
yet  in  the  retrospect  of  later  generations  both  the  great 
apostle  and  the  great  puritan  are  seen  to  tower  above 
their  contemporaries  in  charity,  and  in  the  sense  of 
doctrinal  proportion. 

In  the  second  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  S.  Paul 
applies  his  precept  to  a  specific  and  familiar  situation. 
He  had  caused  a  collection  of  money  to  be  made 
through  the  Gentile  churches  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poor  Christians  of  Judaea,  and  he  had  to  arrange  for 
its  safe  carriage  to  Jerusalem.  He  insisted  on  having 
some  duly  appointed  representative  of  the  contributing 
churches  associated  with  himself  in  the  matter,  and  he 
gave  as  his  reason  the  importance  of  leaving  no  loop- 
hole through  which  suspicion  could  find  entrance  :  — 

"  Avoiding  this,  that  any  man  should  blame  us  in  the  matter  of 
this  bounty  which  is  ministered  by  us  :  for  we  take  thought  for 
things  honourable,  not  only  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  but  also  in  the 
sight  of  men.'' 

It  had  indeed  been  well  if  the  caution  of  the  apostle 
had  been  made  the  rule  of  Christian  finance,  for  all  the 
world  knows  how  great  a  volume  of  discredit  has  grown 
from  the  disregard  of  it.  We  may  not  forget  the  warn- 
ing which  lies  on  the  surface  of  religious  history, 
that  high   theory  and  great  enthusiasm  and  the  best 

249 


Westminster  Sermons 

intentions  are  no  sufficient  securities  against  financial 
maladministration,  which  begins  in  carelessness  or 
ignorance  and  too  often  ends  in  dishonesty.  The 
robust  good  sense  of  mankind  does  not  approve  the 
association  of  exalted  spiritual  objects  with  doubtful 
financial  expedients.  Let  me  illustrate  the  point  by 
some  examples.  How  great  scandal  attached  at  the 
Restoration  to  the  Church  of  England  from  the  circum- 
stance, that  very  large  sums  were  paid  as  fines  for  the 
renewal  of  leases  to  the  clergy,  and  were  too  often 
treated  as  being  morally,  what  of  course  they  were 
legally,  the  property  of  individual  clergymen  !  There 
were  illustrious  exceptions,  especially  among  the  bishops 
who  spent  large  amounts  on  their  cathedrals,  but  every 
student  of  that  age  knows  how  widespread  was  the 
scandal.  I  have  often  reflected  on  the  benefit  conferred 
by  the  State  on  the  Church  in  the  legislation,  furiously 
resisted  at  the  time  by  the  clergy,  which  commuted  the 
tithe,  and  established  the  Ecclesiastical  Commission  for 
the  better  distribution  of  ecclesiastical  endowments. 
Any  student  of  the  political  caricatures  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  knows  how  remarkable  a  change  passed 
over  the  suggestions  implicit  in  the  pictures  of  the 
clergy.  In  the  earlier  period  the  suggestion  is  almost 
always  that  of  wealth,  covetousness,  gross  living;  in  the 
later  period,  this  suggestion  hardly  ever  appears.  It 
lingers  still  on  the  lips  of  the  lowest  type  of  popular 
agitator,  but  even  there  is  becoming  rarer.  In  some 
measure  the  change  is  due  to  the  rise  and  progress  of 
the  Oxford  movement,  but  I  incline  to  give  a  greater 
importance  to  the  legal  changes  which  simplified  and 
made  intelligible  the  finance  of  the  Church,  and  removed 

250 


Duty  to  Respect  General  Conscience 

the  crying  scandal  of  excessive  and  ill-administered 
endowment.  The  zeal  with  which  the  clergy  opposed 
the  salutary  action  of  the  State  might  well  have  been 
restrained  by  the  recollection  of  the  apostolic  admoni- 
tion :  "  Take  thought  for  things  honourable  in  the  sight 
of  all  men." 

The  combination  of  religious  work  and  commercial 
undertakings  is  so  perilous  in  itself,  and  has  resting  on 
it  so  emphatic  a  condemnation  of  Christian  experience, 
that  we  may  well  incline  to  think  that  it  is  disallowed 
by  the  apostle's  precept.  The  downfall  of  the  Jesuits 
in  the  eighteenth  century  was  in  no  slight  degree  con- 
nected with  their  trading  concerns,  which  not  only  drew 
on  them  the  jealousies  of  the  commercial  interests  which 
they  injured,  but  did  grievously  lower  the  tone  of  the 
order.  If  the  astute  rulers  of  that  powerful  society  had 
remembered  the  counsel  of  S.  Paul,  and  "  taken  thought 
for  things  honourable  in  the  sight  of  all  men,"  they 
would  not  have  found  in  the  day  of  calamity  that  the 
public  conscience  was  wholly  alienated.  I  cannot 
refrain  from  a  yet  nearer  illustration  of  my  subject. 
The  Salvation  Army  presents  the  same  dangerous  com- 
bination of  religion  and  commerce ;  and  in  its  case  also 
that  combination  has  been  gravely  challenged.  No  one 
could  have  read  Mr.  Manson's  elaborate,  detailed,  and 
severe  indictment  of  the  financial  methods  of  the  Army, 
published  in  1906,  without  feeling  that  the  authorities 
of  the  Army  were  required  by  every  consideration  of 
religion,  of  honour,  and  of  policy,  to  meet  the  case 
urged  with  so  much  ability  and  apparent  command  of 
facts.  So  much  impressed,  indeed,  was  I  myself  by 
reading  Mr.  Manson's  book,  that  I  could  not  believe 

251 


Westminster  Sermons 


that  the  authorities  of  the  Army  could  leave  it 
unanswered.  Yet  when  I  inquired  at  the  headquarters 
of  the  Salvation  Army,  I  was  informed  that  no  answer 
has  been  given  or  will  be  given  to  this  most  grave 
indictment.  The  official  informed  me  that  the  autho- 
rities of  the  Army  thought  Mr.  Manson's  book  "beneath 
their  notice."  I  am  very  sure  that  that  opinion  will  be 
shared  by  no  one  who  has  read  it,  nor  can  I  think  it  in 
any  degree  justifiable.  I  would  respectfully  commend 
to  the  consideration  of  General  Booth  and  his 
colleagues  that  religion  itself  suffers  when  the  good 
faith  of  its  representatives  is  suspected,  and  that  they 
have  no  right  to  neglect  criticisms  which  carry  so  far 
and  cut  so  deep.  Assuredly  they  would  forfeit  their 
claim  to  the  confidence  and  the  support  of  thoughtful 
and  responsible  Christian  citizens,  if  they  could  not 
promptly  disprove  what  is  discreditable  in  this  indict- 
ment, and  would  not  promptly  remedy  what  is  shown 
to  be  unsound  in  their  system. 

It  is  important  to  remember  that  S.  Paul  had  to 
reckon  with  the  public  opinion  of  a  non-Christian 
society.  There  would  have  been  large  excuse  for  an 
attitude  of  indiscriminating  hostility,  for  the  social 
habits  of  the  imperial  population  were  steeped  in 
sensuality,  and  intertwined  at  every  point  with  idolatry. 
"  The  whole  world  lieth  in  the  evil  one,"  writes  the 
latest  of  the  apostolic  authors,  and  when  we  attempt  to 
realize  the  common  course  of  pagan  life,  and  judge  it  by 
the  standard  of  the  gospel,  we  are  not  disposed  to 
resent  the  description  as  extravagant  ;  yet  we  can  per- 
ceive and  appreciate  the  deeper  justice  of  S.  Paul,  who 
could  see  in  the  system  of  ancient  civilization  elements 

252 


Duty  to  Respect  General  Conscience 

of  goodness,  beauty  and  power  which  he  would  not 
consent  either  to  ignore  or  to  belittle.  He  was  by  right 
of  birth  a  Roman  citizen,  and  he  looked  on  the  vast 
edifice  of  Roman  government,  not  with  the  hostile 
suspicion  of  a  conquered  provincial,  but  with  the  honest 
pride  of  a  good  subject.  He  was  by  temperament  a 
statesman,  and  he  could  understand  the  political  sagacity 
which  the  imperial  system  expressed.  He  was  the 
greatest  of  evangelists,  and  his  experience  had  brought 
home  to  him  the  value  of  Roman  justice  and  Roman 
order.  He  shared  with  the  greatest  of  his  contem- 
poraries a  cosmopolitan  habit  of  thought,  and  his 
conception  of  a  catholic  church  fitted  in  with  suggestive 
facility  to  the  scheme  of  universal  empire.  Thus,  by 
temperament  and  training,  as  well  as  by  the  circum- 
stances of  his  life,  he  was  better  able  than  the  rest  of 
his  contemporaries  to  rise  above  the  prejudices  of  his 
race  and  creed.  Still  it  remains  a  deeply  impressive 
fact  that  he  could  recognize  the  moral  worth  of  the 
general  conscience,  and  bid  his  converts  defer  to  its 
censures  and  covet  its  approbation.  I  have  preferred  to 
say  the  general  conscience  rather  than  public  opinion, 
because  I  think  the  apostle,  while  ever  displaying  a 
manly  contempt  for  the  prejudices  and  passions  of  the 
multitude,  had  a  gennine  belief  in  the  soundness  of  the 
moral  judgments  of  the  general  conscience.  It  could 
be  trusted  to  bear  true  witness  to  the  Tightness  or 
wrongness  of  the  conduct  which  Christians  offered  to 
its  astonished  and  often  reluctant  consideration.  This 
deep  respect  for  the  human  conscience  lay  at  the  root 
of  all  his  moral  teaching  and  made  it  at  once  persuasive 
and  stimulating.     Good  citizenship,  neighbourliness, 

253 


Westminster  Sermons 


personal  rectitude,  self-denial,  purity — these  could  com- 
mand the  homage  of  the  non-Christian,  and  they  were 
the  constituents  of  Christian  duty.  S.  Peter  gives  a 
true  summary  of  S.  Paul's  teaching  when  he  speaks  of 
the  good  behaviour  of  Christians  as  the  divinely  ordained 
instrument  for  the  world's  conversion  : — 

"  Beloved,  I  beseech  you  as  sojourners  and  pilgrims,  to  abstain 
from  fleshly  lusts,  which  war  against  the  soul ;  having  your  behaviour 
seemly  among  the  Gentiles  that,  wherein  they  speak  against  you 
as  evil-doers,  they  may  by  your  good  works,  which  they  behold, 
glorify  God  in  the  day  of  visitation." 

The  case  with  us  is  not  that  which  confronted  the 
apostle.  We  have  to  reckon  with  the  public  opinion 
of  a  society  which  for  thirteen  centuries  has  been 
influenced  by  Christianity,  with  a  general  conscience 
which  has  been  illuminated  by  the  ideas  of  the  New 
Testament  and  by  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  these  circumstances  the  gravity  of  any  conflict 
between  the  Church  and  the  conscience  of  the  nation 
has  become  for  manifest  reasons  more  considerable, 
and  the  admonition  of  S.  Paul  has  acquired  a  cogency 
and  a  relevance  which  at  the  first  could  hardly  have 
belonged  to  it.  "  Take  thought  for  things  honourable 
in  the  sight  of  all  men,"  addressed  to  the  members  of 
an  ancient  national  Church,  carries  the  awful  suggestion 
of  the  words  of  Christ,  when  He  warned  His  disciples 
against  causing  any  of  His  little  ones  to  stumble,  or  of 
those  other  words  in  which  He  described  the  utter 
perdition  of  professed  Christians  who  had  so  far  receded 
from  the  meaning  of  discipleship  that  they  were  in  the 
world,  which  they  were  commissioned  to  redeem,  as 
"  salt  which  had  lost  its  savour,"  which  men  cast  out  as 


254 


Duty  to  Respect  General  Conscience 

good  for  nothing.  It  is  not  enough  that  our  general 
intention  should  be  good,  or  that  we  should  be  fully 
persuaded  of  our  own  rectitude,  if  we  have  not  brought 
both  our  policy  and  our  personal  advocacy  of  it  under 
the  government  of  this  rule  of  prudence  and  charity. 
"  Take  thought  for  things  honourable  in  the  sight  of  all 
men,"  S.  Paul  wrote  when  the  Church  was  a  very 
small  factor  of  the  world's  life,  and  when  his  counsels 
had  to  be  reduced  to  practice  by  obscure  persons  in 
lowly  places  ;  we  have  to  determine  our  applications  of 
his  words  when  the  Church  is  the  oldest  and  most 
criticized  of  social  institutions,  with  historic  links 
binding  it  closely  to  many,  and  sometimes  curiously 
incongruous  interests,  carrying  the  burden  of  a  weight 
of  memories,  and  sustaining  a  vast  fabric  of  human 
hope.  The  difficulty  of  our  task  is  only  equalled  by  its 
importance,  for  if,  in  our  zeal  for  some  allied  and  perhaps 
little  consistent  cause,  we  compromise  in  the  general 
view  and  even  submerge  our  true  purpose,  we  wrong 
deeply  the  society  to  which  we  are  commissioned  as 
disciples  of  Christ.  To  "  take  thought  for  things 
honourable  in  the  sight  of  all  men  "  may  seem  a  pre- 
cept beyond  our  powers  to  obey,  yet  at  least  we  can  set 
before  ourselves  the  ideal  which  it  suggests,  and  cherish 
the  faith  which  it  utters.  So  to  live  in  the  world  that 
we  may  place  no  hindrance  in  the  way  of  men,  but  may 
show  the  beauty  of  holiness  in  common  life,  and  lead 
men  by  its  winning  guidance  to  the  service  of  Christ — 
that  is  the  ideal ;  to  revere  human  nature,  to  trust  the 
honest  and  true  spirit  in  man,  and  to  appeal  with  just 
title  to  its  sanction  and  support — that  is  the  method  of 
faith. 

255 


Westminster  Sermons 


Pursuing  that  ideal  and  adopting  that  method,  we 
shall  have  courage  to  resist  the  passing  gusts  of  fashion, 
and  strength  to  sustain  the  opposition  of  selfish  interests, 
for  we  shall  know  well  that  "  there  are  more  with  us" 
than  with  our  opponents,  and  that  there  can  be  but  one 
conclusion  to  the  conflicts  of  the  conscience.  If  we  are 
not  overcome  of  evil,  we  are  able  sooner  or  later  to 
overcome  evil  with  good.  "  In  due  season  we  shall 
reap  if  we  faint  not." 


256 


XX 


THE  NOBILITY  OF  THE  BERCEANS 1 

NOW  THESE  WERE  MORE  NOBLE  THAN  THOSE  IN  THESS ALONICA, 
IN  THAT  THEY  RECEIVED  THE  WORD  WITH  ALL  READINESS  OF 
MIND,  EXAMINING  THE  SCRIPTURES  DAILY,  WHETHER  THESE 
THINGS  WERE  SO. — ACTS  Xvii.  II. 

We  are  very  apt  to  think  that  the  message  of 
Christianity,  as  it  is  now  proclaimed  by  the  Church,  fails 
to  command  the  audience  of  men  in  anything  like  the 
same  degree  as  was  the  case  in  former  times.  We  look 
round  on  society,  and  observe  its  seemingly  unalterable 
indifference  to  the  appeal  of  the  Church,  and  we 
mentally  contrast  this  indifference  with  the  zeal  dis- 
played by  those  multitudes  to  whom  in  the  first  instance 
the  Christian  message  was  addressed.  The  contrast 
suggests  the  uncomfortable  suspicion  that  for  some 
reason,  whether  some  defect  in  delivery,  or  some 
radical  mishandling  of  the  message,  or  some  stumbling- 
block  of  scandal,  that  message  has  in  our  hands  lost 
much  of  its  original  force.  Our  depression  even 
threatens  our  faith  ;  and  though  we  may  preserve  the 
latter,  yet  we  forfeit  much  of  that  Christian  hope- 
fulness, without  which  it  is  stripped  of  much  of  its 
aggressive  force.  It  may  not  fairly  be  questioned  that 
there  is  some  justification  for  our  depression.  There 

1  Preached  on  the  6th  Sunday  after  Trinity,  July  26,  1908,  in 
S.  Margaret's,  Westminster. 


257 


R 


Westminster  Sermons 

is  more  in  it  than  the  mere  human  weakness,  which 
ever  tends  to  disparage  the  present  and  magnify  the 
past.  The  impression  among  Christians  is  too  prevalent 
and  persistent  to  be  so  easily  explained.  It  cannot  but 
be  rooted  in  actual  observations  and  experiences.  Nor 
indeed  would  it  appear  difficult  to  indicate  these  when 
we  reflect  that  in  certain  particulars  of  manifest 
importance  the  message  of  the  gospel,  as  it  is  delivered 
in  the  twentieth  century,  has  disadvantages  which 
assuredly  had  no  existence  in  former  times.  Of  these 
perhaps  the  most  obvious,  though  not  necessarily  the 
most  important,  is  the  portentous  division  of  the 
Christian  society  into  many  mutually  conflicting 
sections.  We  can  hardly  be  mistaken  in  thinking  that 
this  division  is  a  cause  of  great  evangelistic  weakness, 
for  the  divine  Founder  of  the  Church  did  Himself  in 
the  most  solemn  way  link  together  the  unity  of  the 
Church  and  the  power  of  the  gospel  to  win  the  audience 
and  acceptance  of  mankind.  On  the  eve  of  the  Passion 
Christ  prayed  that  all  disciples  might  be  one  in  order 
that  the  world  might  believe  in  His  divine  mission. 
Since  then  this  unity  appears  to  have  been  generally 
obscured,  and  from  many  Christian  minds  wholly 
banished,  the  declared  will  of  the  Founder  is  plainly 
disregarded,  and  the  condition  of  the  world's  con- 
version, which  He  indicated,  does  not  exist.  How  can 
any  thoughtful  Christian  mindful  of  his  Master's  words 
be  astonished  at  the  practical  weakness  of  preaching 
which  is  thus  unconditioned  by  Christian  unity?  The 
world,  we  may  suppose,  is  unconvinced  of  the  truth 
of  the  gospel  because,  among  other  reasons,  the 
Church   fails  to  exhibit  that  oneness,  which  would 

258 


The  Nobility  of  the  Beroeans 

naturally  follow  from  an  ex  animo  acceptance  of  its  own 
message. 

Again,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  in  the  beginnings 
of  Christianity  the  gospel  was  commended  by  its  very 
novelty  to  the  attention,  if  not  also  to  the  acceptance, 
of  men.  The  apostles  proclaimed  to  the  multitudes  of 
the  empire  truth  which  was  certainly  new.  They  could 
count  on  the  insatiable  curiosity  of  the  human  mind  to 
secure  for  their  preaching  an  attentive,  if  ultimately  an 
hostile,  hearing.  The  sensation  caused  by  their 
preaching  was  clearly  very  great.  Indeed,  their 
enemies  laid  hold  of  this  circumstance  as  a  plausible 
reason  for  interference  on  the  part  of  the  state. 
Thus  we  read  that  the  Jews  of  Thessalonica  "  troubled 
the  multitude  and  the  rulers  of  the  city"  by  insisting 
on  the  revolutionary  character  of  the  gospel.  "  These 
that  have  turned  the  world  upside  down  are  come 
hither  also ;  whom  Jason  hath  received,  and  these  all 
act  contrary  to  the  decrees  of  Caesar,  saying  that  there  is 
another  king,  one  Jesus."  In  our  time  the  Church,  at 
least  in  Europe  and  America,  no  longer  possesses  this 
advantage.  The  doctrine  of  Christianity  is  generally 
familiar :  its  message  has  become  almost  common- 
place :  truths,  which  at  their  first  proclamation  shook 
men's  hearts,  now  scarcely  succeed  in  attracting  their 
casual  notice  :  Christianity  also  has  to  illustrate  the 
disheartening  maxim,  "  Familiarity  breeds  contempt." 
Especially,  perhaps,  in  this  country  and  in  America, 
where  from  causes,  partly  historical,  partly  social,  the 
licence  of  thought  and  speech  in  matters  of  religion 
has  proceeded  to  lengths  hardly  tolerated  in  former 
times,  the  familiarity  of  men  with  the  ideas  and  phrases 

259  F  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


of  Christianity  has  to  be  reckoned  with.  When  their 
ears  are  deafened,  their  good  sense  offended,  even 
their  civic  rights  invaded,  by  an  incessant  and  disordered 
propagandism,  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  ordinary 
Englishmen  turn  away  with  impatience  from  the  appeals 
of  religion  ?  "  For  heaven's  sake,  sir,  don't  talk  to  me 
about  religion ;  I  can't  put  my  head  out  of  doors 
without  hearing  it  shouted  from  every  corner  of  the 
streets,"  said  a  very  respectable  artizan  to  me  once 
when  I  called  at  his  house  on  my  round  of  pastoral 
visits.  I  believe  the  zealots  of  Christianity  are  gravely 
mistaken  in  taking  no  thought  for  the  resentments 
they  may  be  provoking  by  their  well-intentioned  but 
ill-regulated  evangelism.  "  Take  thought  for  things 
honourable  in  the  sight  of  all  men  "  and  "  Let  not  your 
good  be  evil  spoken  of"  are  two  Pauline  maxims 
which  might  be  commended  to  the  leaders  of  religion 
in  England  and  America.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  will 
be  agreed  that  the  novelty  of  the  gospel  was  an 
advantage  possessed  by  the  first  preachers,  which  has 
ceased  to  belong  to  their  successors. 

In  view  then  of  our  present  circumstances,  we  may 
not  deny  that  there  is  some  foundation  for  the  prevalent 
impression  that  the  gospel  now  is  far  less  able  to  win 
audience  and  acceptance  than  formerly.  Allowing  this, 
however,  we  must  be  careful  not  to  permit  that 
impression  to  take  too  great  a  place  in  our  thought. 
For  surely  a  little  reflection  will  show  us  that,  as  in  the 
present  so  also  in  the  past,  the  gospel  did  not  conquer 
human  acceptance  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  had  a  very 
various  reception,  determined  in  every  case  by  those 
very    circumstances    of    temperament,   history,  and 

260 


The  Nobility  of  the  Beroeans 

condition,  which  do  still  in  the  main  determine  its 
fortune  among  ourselves. 

It  should  never  be  forgotten,  whenever  we  institute 
comparisons  between  the  present  and  the  past,  that  we 
see  the  latter  in  a  very  long  perspective.  We  see  it  as 
a  great  landscape  is  seen  in  the  decline  of  a  brilliant 
day,  by  the  light  of  the  failing  sun  :  every  tree,  every 
rail,  every  blade  of  grass  is  touched  with  glory  :  every 
stream  and  pool  glows  as  molten  gold  :  it  is  a  scene  of 
dazzling  brightness  ;  yet  we  know  that  the  shadows  are 
as  deep  as  the  light  is  fierce,  and  that  at  any  given 
point  in  the  landscape  the  lengthening  shadows  would 
be  as  manifest  as  the  light  which  casts  them.  So  it  is 
with  the  past.  We  see  nothing,  or  almost  nothing, 
beyond  the  outstanding  events  of  triumph  and  tragedy, 
which  the  page  of  history  records ;  but  if  we  had  lived 
in  the  several  ages,  we  should  have  found  that  these  by 
no  means  exhausted  the  experiences  of  life,  but  that  the 
shadows  of  prosaic  failure  and  the  unromantic  common- 
places of  common  folk  were  as  present  and  even  more 
apparent.  In  some  sense,  of  course,  it  is  true  that  the 
distant  perspective  brings  into  view  the  just  proportions 
of  facts,  which  in  a  nearer  regard  were  misjudged  ;  and 
we  all  know  that  contemporary  estimates  are  often  the 
least  equitable  and  judicious;  nevertheless,  something 
more  than  justice  of  proportions  is  required  for  a  right 
estimate  of  events.  There  must  be  also  that  knowledge 
of  circumstances  which  is  lost  or  obscured  in  a  distant 
view.  Seen  at  a  distance  the  towers  and  spires  of  a 
city  stand  out  grandly  against  the  sky,  and  it  is  possible 
to  do  justice  at  once  to  their  beauty  and  their  altitude  ; 
but  the  true  character  of  the  city  itself  will  not  thus  be 

261 


Westminster  Sermons 


learned :  the  streets  and  lanes  which  dwarf  or  conceal 
those  towers  and  spires  are  truer  witnesses  than  they 
when  that  is  the  subject  of  inquiry.  Remembering 
this,  we  must  ever  chasten  our  admiration  of  the  past 
by  our  knowledge  of  the  present,  and  thus  in  a  sense 
charter  our  own  experience  to  interpret  history.  We 
shall  sometimes  discover  that  our  depression  may  thus 
become  changed  into  the  minister  of  consolation. 

In  the  text  we  have  a  picture  of  apostolic  preaching 
drawn  from  life,  and  are  able  to  watch  the  very  process. 
Two  classes  of  hearers  are  distinguished.  The  one,  that 
of  the  Jews  of  Thessalonica,  meet  S.  Paul's  message 
with  firm  hostility,  refuse  to  consider  it  on  its  merits, 
fix  their  undivided  attention  on  that  aspect  of  it  which 
most  offends  their  prejudices;  give  themselves  up  to 
the  fierce  and  reckless  temper  of  jealousy ;  and,  finally, 
under  its  malignant  dominance,  have  recourse  to 
violence  in  order  to  suppress  the  gospel.  They  will 
not  harken  :  still  less  will  they  weigh  arguments  :  they 
will  only  oppose.  The  other  class,  that  of  the  Berceans, 
behave  in  a  very  different  manner.  They  certainly  had  as 
much  reason  to  dislike  the  gospel  as  their  Thessalonian 
neighbours,  for  they  also  were  Jews  and  devout  students 
of  their  sacred  books.  They  could  hardly  be  less 
zealous  than  the  others  for  the  covenant  privileges  of 
Israel,  of  which  the  catholic  gospel  of  S.  Paul  declared 
the  final  end.  The  religious  study  of  the  Berceans, 
however,  had  induced  in  them  a  humbler  disposition 
than  the  mere  enjoyment  of  privilege  is  apt  to 
encourage.  They  are  prepared  to  learn  that  new  and 
amazing  developments  have  been  ordained  of  God  for 
Israel ;  and  though  they  feel  keenly  the  affront  which 

262 


The  Nobility  of  the  Beroeans 

the  apostle's  teaching  inflicts  upon  their  traditional 
notions  of  religion,  they  will  not  refuse  to  give  a  fair 
hearing  to  a  message  professedly  based  on  the  scrip- 
tures. "  These  were  more  noble  than  those  in  Thessa- 
lonica,  in  that  they  received  the  word  with  all  readiness 
of  mind,  examining  the  scriptures  daily,  whether  these 
things  were  so."  This  readiness  to  listen  with  patience, 
and  examine  with  candour,  is  the  special  claim  of  the 
Beroeans  to  be  accounted  "  noble  " — that  is,  as  the 
Greek  word  must  be  literally  rendered,  "gentlemen." 
It  is  not  the  credulity  of  the  Beroeans  that  is  praise- 
worthy, but  their  courtesy  and  candour. 

We  are  all  but  too  familiar  with  credulity.  In  every 
age,  but  most  of  all  in  those  ages  which  are  marked  by 
widely-diffused  scepticism,  there  are  multitudes  of 
credulous  people  who  are  ready  to  accept  anything  that 
is  urged  upon  them  with  sufficient  insistence.  No 
charlatanry  is  too  gross,  no  doctrine  too  absurd  or  too 
immoral,  to  find  disciples  among  us.  This  wide  credulity 
is  of  course  the  circumstance  upon  which  religious 
impostors  have  ever  securely  counted :  and  truly  the 
resources  of  human  folly  have  never  yet  disappointed 
the  hopes  of  human  craft.  There  is  nothing  creditable, 
nothing  Christian  in  credulity  :  it  is  to  Christian  faith 
what  tinsel  is  to  sterling  metal,  or,  to  leave  metaphor, 
what  servility  is  to  courtesy,  what  meanness  is  to 
economy,  what  superstition  is  to  religion,  what  vanity 
is  to  self-respect.  It  has  a  certain  superficial  resem- 
blance, since  both  credulity  and  Christian  faith  imply 
the  acceptance  of  some  external  teaching,  but  there  the 
resemblance  ends.  Faith  is  the  temper  of  deliberate, 
responsible,  intelligent  acceptance,  as  it  were  the  affixing 

263 


Westminster  Sermons 


of  a  signature  after  due  thought  and  with  full  conscious- 
ness of  all  that  is  involved.  Credulity  is  the  temper  of 
a  shallow  and  facile  acceptance  at  second-hand,  as  it 
were  the  affixing  of  a  signature  reproduced  by  litho- 
graphy, or  some  other  mechanical  device,  and  exten- 
sively circulated  for  purposes  of  advertisement,  or 
business,  without  inquiry  and  without  sense  of  respon- 
sibility. Both,  indeed,  are  signatures,  but  the  one 
represents  the  free  and  intelligent  action  of  the 
individual,  the  other  represents  nothing  but  a  formal 
act.  If  I  dwell  long  on  this  distinction,  it  is  because  I 
observe  a  disposition  in  many  quarters  to  ignore  it. 
Many  are  very  scornful  of  credulity,  who  are  far, 
indeed,  from  the  "  noble "  temper  of  courteous  and 
candid  inquiry.  The  Thessalonians  were  not  credulous, 
but  they  were  certainly  not  rational.  To  refuse  to 
listen  is  not  less  irrational  than  to  accept  without 
examination  :  and  it  is  scarcely  less  common.  In  one 
respect,  indeed,  the  former  is  the  more  discreditable. 
Few  people,  however  credulous,  are  accustomed  to 
make  a  boast  of  their  credulity,  but  most  people  of 
narrow  and  obstinate  minds  are  in  the  habit  of  priding 
themselves  on  their  inaccessibility  to  new  ideas.  They 
flatter  themselves  on  their  acumen,  when  they  should 
bewail  their  obstinacy  :  they  exult  in  their  consistency, 
when  they  should  lament  their  unteachableness. 

The  Berceans  appear  to  have  been  equally  removed 
from  the  folly  of  credulity  and  the  conceit  of  prejudice. 
They  listen  to  the  gospel  with  an  open  mind :  that  is, 
not  certainly  a  mind  vacant  of  prepossessions  and  con- 
victions, for  that  were  to  have  no  mind  at  all ;  but  a 
mind  disciplined  and  reverent,  able  therefore  to  realize 

264 


The  Nobility  of  the  Berceans 

its  own  limitations,  and  to  venerate  the  convictions  of 
others.  They  listened  "with  all  readiness  of  mind," 
but  they  did  not  there  and  then  without  further  reflec- 
tion believe  the  gospel.  They  brought  it  to  the 
test  of  the  scriptures — in  this  case,  the  right  test, 
since  the  gospel  professed  to  be  the  true  exposition  of 
the  scriptures ;  and  only  when,  after  examining  the 
scriptures,  they  had  found  that  the  gospel  justified  its 
claim,  did  they  own  themselves  disciples. 

The  fair  criticism  of  new  propositions  requires  that 
the  right  test  should  be  applied :  that  is,  the  test  which 
the  nature  of  the  proposition  permits.  We  read  earlier 
in  the  narrative  that  S.  Paul  supported  his  message  by 
an  appeal  to  scripture  ;  therefore  it  was  right  that  the 
scriptures  should  be  the  authority  to  which  the  Berceans 
should  have  recourse  when  they  desired  to  test  the  truth 
of  that  message.  This  elementary  rule  of  reason  and 
fair  play  has  been  often  ignored  by  Christians,  who 
have  thus  been  led  into  very  grievous  wrongdoing. 
When,  for  instance,  the  Roman  Church  of  the  seventeenth 
century  condemned  Galileo  because  the  astronomy 
which  he  taught  plainly  contradicted  the  words  of  the 
Bible,  this  was  the  root  of  error.  The  matter  was  not 
one  which  could  properly  be  brought  to  the  test  of  an 
appeal  to  scripture.  Not  the  Bible,  but  the  observations 
and  reasonings  of  scientific  students  of  nature,  must 
decide  the  truth  of  an  astronomical  theory.  When 
Bishop  Colenso  was  condemned  by  the  English  con- 
vocation, and  exposed  to  the  denunciations  of  the 
religious  public,  because  of  his  book  on  the  Pentateuch, 
the  same  error,  with  far  less  excuse,  was  committed 
by  a  Protestant  Church.    Questions  of  historical  and 

265 


Westminster  Sermons 


literary  criticism  could  not  be  determined  by  appeals 
to  ecclesiastical  decisions,  the  authors  of  which  had 
been  wholly  unconscious  of  the  circumstances  which 
raised,  and  the  facts  which  were  implied  in,  those 
questions.  When  the  English  public  gave  way  to  a 
religious  panic  after  the  publication  of  Darwin's  great 
books,  the  "  Origin  of  Species  "  and  the  "  Descent  of 
Man,"  it  was  repeating  the  error  of  the  Thessalonian 
bigots  who  persecuted  S.  Paul.  Instead  of  calmly 
applying  the  right  test  to  the  new  scientific  theories,  it 
raised  a  tumult  and  indulged  in  angry  denunciation. 
The  appeal  to  the  text  of  Genesis  was  not  less  irrelevant 
than  irrational.  The  Bible  is  not  the  authority  in 
scientific  inquiries :  to  bring  these  to  the  test  of  scrip- 
ture is  on  the  face  of  it  to  perpetrate  an  injustice,  and, 
we  must  add,  an  act  of  folly  also.  It  is  of  the  first 
importance,  then,  that  we  should  make  sure  that  in 
criticizing  new  propositions  we  are  applying  the  right 
test.  Forgetfulness  of  this  elementary  rule  goes  far  to 
explain  the  melancholy  and  suggestive  fact  that  the 
appeal  to  the  Bible  has  been  the  favourite  procedure 
of  Christian  folk  whenever  new  theories,  critical  and 
scientific,  have  challenged  their  beliefs. 

I  began  by  contrasting  the  reception  of  the  gospel  in 
the  first  days  and  its  reception  now  :  I  end  by  reverting 
to  that  contrast.  The  former  factors  are  all  present 
now  as  then.  Still  we  have  our  Thessalonians,  men 
who  will  not  listen  to  the  message  of  Christianity,  who 
will  sweep  it  aside  with  a  contemptuous  epigram,  and 
assume  that  the  confidence  of  their  own  rejection 
demonstrates  the  soundness  of  their  argument.  They 
defeated  S.  Paul  :  they  are  proof  against  the  reasoning 

266 


The  Nobility  of  the  Berceans 

of  religious  men  still.  Happily  these  do  not  exhaust 
the  number  of  modern  hearers.  We  have  still  our 
Berceans,  nobler  souls,  who  are  on  the  watch  for 
divine  messages,  who  listen  with  attention,  and  con- 
sider with  candour,  and  inquire  with  patience.  To 
such  the  appeal  of  the  gospel  can  still  be  addressed 
with  confidence  of  success. 

So  we  conclude  that  the  power  of  Christianity  to  win 
the  acceptance  of  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed  did  not 
at  the  start,  and  does  not  now,  depend  on  any  human 
quality,  not  the  eloquence  and  zeal  of  S.  Paul,  not  the 
learning  of  modern  theologians,  but  always  and  every- 
where on  its  own  divine  character,  its  essential  truth- 
fulness, brought  out  to  view  by  the  frank  application  of 
honest  and  rational  criticism.  The  gospel  does  still 
commend  itself  to  the  acceptance  of  all  "  men  of  good- 
will," of  all  who  will  be  fair  enough  to  listen,  and  patient 
enough  to  inquire,  and  honest  enough  to  yield,  and 
brave  enough  to  obey.  The  apostles  had  no  secret 
which  the  Church  of  our  own  day  does  not  possess  for 
inducing  men  to  receive  the  message  of  the  love  of 
God ;  nor  can  it  be  proved  that  they  had  a  greater 
measure  of  success.  The  record  of  their  labours  was 
as  much  a  record  of  failure  as  of  triumph.  The  Church 
which  they  gathered  was  but  a  scanty  election  out  of  a 
vast  multitude.  The  general  rule,  then,  as  now  was 
rejection.  Yet  we  can  see  that  in  spite  of  all  failure 
they  were  fulfilling  their  function,  and  laying  deep  and 
broad  the  foundations  of  historic  Christianity.  May 
we  not  dare  to  hope  that  as  much  may  be  true  of  the 
modern  Church  ?  Instead  of  driving  us  to  despond- 
ency and  doubt  our  difficulties  should  lead  us  to  self- 

267 


Westminster  Sermons 


examination  and  effort.  The  abiding  stumbling  block 
to  discipleship  comes  from  within  the  human  heart  itself. 
Let  us  look  to  it  that  we  ourselves  are  free  from  that 
inward  evil :  that  of  us  the  spiritual  record  ma)'  be 
written  in  these  terms  of  ancient  commendation.  In 
an  age  filled  beyond  precedent  with  new  and  amazing 
revelations  of  truth  may  we  be  as  these  Berceans,  of 
whom  it  was  said  that  "they  were  more  noble  than 
those  in  Thessalonica,  in  that  they  received  the  word 
with  all  readiness  of  mind,  examining  the  scriptures 
daily,  whether  these  things  were  so." 


268 


XXI 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  NATIONALITY1 

BEHOLD  I  HAVE  GIVEN  HIM  FOR  A  WITNESS  TO  THE  PEOPLES,  A 
LEADER  AND  COMMANDER  TO  THE  PEOPLES. 

FOR  MY  THOUGHTS  ARE  NOT  YOUR  THOUGHTS,  NEITHER  ARE 
YOUR  WAYS  MY  WAYS,  SAITH  THE  LORD. — ISAIAH  lv.  4,  8. 

It  would  hardly  be  an  excessive  description  of  the 
contrast  between  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  say 
that  the  one  was  intensely  national  and  the  other 
intensely  individual.  Yet  it  would  certainly  be  untrue 
to  infer  from  this  any  proper  conflict  between  the 
Jewish  and  the  Christian  scriptures,  for  the  teaching 
of  the  prophets  moved  steadily  in  the  direction  of  an 
ethical,  that  is,  a  conditioned  individualism,  and  the 
teaching  of  Christ  and  His  apostles  pointed  to  the  final 
expression  of  individuality  in  a  perfected  social  order. 
The  highest  note  of  prophecy  is  that  which  declares  the 
individual  human  spirit  to  be  the  true  instrument  of 
divine  revelation.  The  Creator  Himself  is  offered  by 
Micah  as  the  supreme  prophet  of  religious  truth, 
delivering  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  conscience  a  clear 
and  authoritative  testimony  to  the  divine  character  and 
will: — 

"  He  hath  shewed  Thee,  O  man,  what  is  good;  and  what  doth 
the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and 
to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God.'' 

1  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  the  2nd  Sunday  after  the 
Epiphany,  January  19,  1908. 

269 


Westminster  Sermons 


Perhaps  the  highest  note  of  apostolic  teaching  is 
struck  in  that  noble  declaration,  in  which  S.  Paul  at 
once  discloses  the  inspiring  motive  of  his  own  career  of 
service,  and  disallows  any  selfish  interpretation  of  the 
gospel  of  redemption  : — 

"  For  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us  ;  because  we  thus  judge, 
that  one  died  for  all,  therefore  all  died  ;  and  He  died  for  all,  that 
they  which  live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto 
Him  who  for  their  sakes  died  and  rose  again." 

In  the  teaching  of  our  Lord  the  two  elements,  social 
and  individual,  are  combined  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
kingdom  on  the  one  hand,  and  in  the  demand  of 
discipleship  on  the  other.  The  combination  emerges 
with  impressive  distinctness  in  the  first  proclamation  of 
the  gospel.  S.  Peter  and  S.John,  standing  before  the 
Sanhedrin  of  Jerusalem,  and  receiving  an  official  com- 
mand to  cease  from  their  missionary  work,  make 
answer  in  words  which  stand  on  record  as  the  formal 
statement  of  the  divine  right  of  the  individual  conscience 
to  override  all  external  authority  whatsoever  : — 

"  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you 
rather  than  unto  God,  judge  ye:  for  we  cannot  but  speak  the  things 
which  we  saw  and  heard." 

The  actual  message  of  the  apostles,  as  described  in 

the  Acts,  was  a  passionate  appeal  to  the  nationalist 

hopes  of  Israel : — 

"Ye  are  the  sons  of  the  prophets,  and  of  the  covenant  which 
God  made  with  your  fathers,  saying  unto  Abraham,  And  in  thy 
seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed.  Unto  you  first 
God,  having  raised  up  His  servant,  sent  him  to  bless  you,  in 
turning  away  every  one  of  you  from  your  iniquities." 

It  is  deeply  significant  that  the  Christian  Bible 
includes  both  the  literature  of  the  nation   and  the 


270 


The  Redemption  of  Nationality- 
writings  of  the  apostles.  The  older  ideal  of  a  national 
redemption  is  taken  up  into  the  treasure  of  Christian 
hope,  and  the  primary  insistence  on  individual  salvation 
is  not  allowed  to  shutout  the  larger  vision  of  a  perfected 
human  society.  The  language  of  the  Hebrew  prophets 
utters  the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  Christian  Church 
when,  on  the  lips  of  the  apocalyptic  seer,  it  sketches 
the  fair  and  ample  outlines  of  "  the  holy  city  Jerusalem 
coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God  "  : — 

"  The  nations  shall  walk  amidst  the  light  thereof  :  and  the  kings  of 
the  earth  do  bring  their  glory  into  it.  And  the  gates  thereof  shall 
in  no  wise  be  shut  by  day  (for  there  shall  be  no  night  there)  : 
and  they  shall  bring  the  glory  and  the  honour  of  the  nations 
into  it :  and  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  un- 
clean, or  he  that  maketh  an  abomination  and  a  lie  :  but  only  they 
which  are  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life." 

The  distinctiveness  of  national  type,  and  the  per- 
fection of  individual  character,  are  united  in  this  final 
triumph  of  redemption.  Again  and  again  Christian 
men  have  been  tempted  to  give  up  one  or  other  of 
these  elements,  to  sacrifice  the  national  type  to  the 
discipline  of  the  individual,  or  to  abandon  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  individual  in  deference  to  the  national 
type.  Against  this  tendency,  ascetic  or  ecclesiastical 
or  Erastian  as  the  case  may  be,  the  Bible,  with  its 
combination  of  a  national  literature  and  the  apostolic 
writings,  has  been,  in  the  providence  of  God,  the  grand 
preservative  of  the  Christian  Church.  As  students  of 
prophecy,  we  cannot  think  meanly  of  all  that  is  implied 
by  nationality ;  as  disciples  of  the  crucified  Jesus  and 
members  of  an  apostolic  Church,  we  cannot  surrender 
the  rights  of  the  private  conscience,  or  consent  to  any 
interpretation  of  the  gospel  which  shackles  or  disallows 

271 


Westminster  Sermons 


the  free  and  full  expression  of  individuality.  The 
epiphany  of  the  Incarnate  is  to  be  perceived  in  the 
history  of  nations  as  well  as  in  the  history  of  the  Church, 
and  the  Son  of  Man  vindicates  His  name  in  every  truly 
natural  aspiration  of  the  human  race.  The  Redeemer's 
mission  is  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.  Thus  He 
formulated  His  redemptive  programme  :  "  I  came  that 
they  may  have  life,  and  may  have  it  abundantly." 

If  we  review  the  history  of  the  Christian  religion 
without  prejudice,  I  think  we  shall  be  compelled  to 
admit  two  facts  :  first,  that  human  individuality  has 
under  the  discipline  of  Christianity  attained  its  com- 
pletest  expression ;  and  next,  that  nationality  has  flowered 
most  richly  under  the  influence  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Take  any  type  of  the  individual  life  you  will,  and  com- 
pare its  Christian  version  with  any  older  or  contem- 
porary version,  and  judge  whether  discipleship  be  or  be 
not  friendly  to  individuality.  The  Christian  monarch 
is  confessedly  the  highest  type  of  monarch;  the  Christian 
statesman  is  the  highest  type  of  statesman  ;  the  Christian 
merchant,  or  soldier,  or  artizan,  or  artist,  is  severally 
the  best  of  his  kind.  Especially  in  the  case  of  the 
natural  relationships  is  this  superiority  of  the  Christian 
manifest.  The  Christian  parent,  husband,  mother,  wife, 
child,  friend,  is  beyond  dispute  the  highest  example  of 
the  several  types.  Take,  next,  the  more  difficult  case 
of  the  nation.  Christianity  was  born  into  a  world 
organized  strongly  against  nationality.  The  Roman 
Empire  had  levelled  the  barriers  between  nations,  and 
reduced  their  characteristic  civilizations  to  one  uniform 
type.  Even  the  religions,  which  are  ever  the  strongest 
buttresses  of  nationalism,  had  been  brought  under  the 


272 


The  Redemption  of  Nationality 

yoke,  and  everywhere  tended  to  a  common  level  of 
faith  and  morals.  Nationality  stood  out  in  untamable 
self-assertion  only  in  the  case  of  the  Jews,  to  whom 
the  Christians  looked  as  their  spiritual  ancestors,  from 
whom  after  the  flesh  the  Incarnate  Himself  had  come, 
whose  sacred  writings  were  accounted  inspired  scriptures. 
Into  this  world  thus  anti-national  in  order,  and  de- 
nationalizing in  tendency,  the  Christian  religion  was 
brought,  and  from  the  first  began  to  operate  as  a  power 
of  enfranchisement : — 

"  The  liberties  of  the  ancient  nations  were  crushed  beneath  a 
hopeless  and  inevitable  despotism,  and  their  vitality  was  spent, 
when  the  new  power  came  forth  from  Galilee,  giving  what  was 
wanting  to  the  efficacy  of  human  knowledge  to  redeem  societies  as 
well  as  men."  1 

While  the  empire  stood,  the  Church  was  unable  to 
exert  its  full  power ;  the  early  centuries  are  filled  with 
the  dramatic  conflict  between  the  rival  kingdoms  of 
Christ  and  Cesar.  When  the  cross  had  triumphed,  the 
unifying  principle  of  the  imperial  system  had  failed,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  the  barbarians  from  without 
pressed  in  irresistibly  on  the  enfeebled  and  dissolving 
empire.  At  first  view  church  and  state  appeared  to 
have  perished  in  a  common  ruin,  but  soon  it  became 
apparent  that  the  tremendous  disaster,  "  the  foundering 
of  a  world,"  was  the  opening  of  a  new  and  grander 
chapter  of  Christian  effort,  which  was  to  record  the 
creation  of  western  Christendom.  Will  any  student  of 
the  facts  deny  that  nationality,  growing  to  maturity 
under  the  influence  of  the  Christian  Church,  is  a  richer, 
greater,  more  impressive  and  fruitful  thing  than  nation- 
ality outside  the  sphere  of  Christian  influence?  I  would 
1  Lord  Acton,  "  Essays,"  p.  28. 

273  S 


Westminster  Sermons 


appear  to  be  the  case,  then,  that  both  with  respect  to 
the  nation,  and  to  the  individual,  the  religion  of  Christ 
has  approved  itself  a  force  of  invigoration  and  pro- 
gress ;  that  alike  in  the  sphere  of  personal  and  of  social 
life,  the  epiphany  of  the  Incarnate  is  to  be  traced  in 
blessing.    "  Grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ." 

Reviewing  the  history,  we  may  take  on  to  our  lips 
the  words  of  the  Hebrew  prophet,  and  recognize  their 
providential  fulfilment:  "  Behold  I  have  given  him  for 
a  witness  to  the  peoples,  a  leader  and  commander  to 
peoples";  and  as  we  remember  the  strange  misunder- 
standings of  its  own  work  which  the  Christian  Church 
has  again  and  again  exhibited,  and  blush  for  the  many 
sad  records  of  Christian  perverseness  and  scandal,  we 
perforce  confess  our  blindness  and  folly,  and  bless  the 
patient  and  over-ruling  mercy  which  carries  through 
the  purpose  of  the  Eternal.  "  For  my  thoughts  are  not 
your  thoughts,  neither  are  your  ways  my  ways,  saith 
the  Lord.  For  as  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the 
earth,  so  are  my  ways  higher  than  your  ways,  and  my 
thoughts  than  your  thoughts." 

Probably  there  are  no  professing  Christians  any- 
where who  seriously  dispute  the  obligation  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  foreign  peoples,  who  now  profess 
some  other  religion.  Indeed,  it  would  be  impossible 
for  any  reverent  student  of  the  Bible  to  doubt,  that  it 
is  the  clear  purpose  of  God  that  the  message  of  redemp- 
tion brought  to  the  world  by  His  blessed  Son  should  be, 
by  the  agency  of  Christians,  carried  to  all  the  races  of 
mankind.  It  would  be  absurd  for  those  who,  as  is  our 
case,  owe  their  knowledge  of  Christianity  to  the  foreign 
missions  of  the  past  to  deny,  either  the  reasonableness, 

274 


The  Redemption  of  Nationality 

or  the  worth  of  such  evangelizing  efforts.  When, 
however,  we  pass  from  theory  to  practice,  and  consider 
the  actual  course  of  events  in  the  mission  field,  it  is 
probably  true  to  say  that  on  all  hands  there  is  hesita- 
tion, misgiving,  and  secret  incredulity.  It  will  not 
have  escaped  your  notice,  that  there  has  recently  been 
issuing  from  the  press  a  considerable  number  of  books 
treating  of  missionary  methods  and  results.  Some  are 
openly  hostile ;  others  are  severely  critical ;  few,  if  any, 
are  entirely  favourable.  On  two  points,  especially, 
there  seems,  even  among  the  friendly  critics,  to  be  sub- 
stantial agreement.  First,  that  recent  events  in  the 
sphere  of  politics  have  enormously  added  to  the  import- 
ance of  missionary  work;  and,  next,  that  the  experience 
of  missions  points  to  the  necessity  of  a  different  handling 
of  the  problem  than  that  which  has  generally  prevailed 
in  the  past.  Let  me  make  a  few  observations  on  these 
two  points. 

i.  The  unrest  in  India,  which  has  caused,  and  with 
justice,  so  much  anxiety  to  thoughtful  English  citizens 
within  the  last  few  months,  has  set  many  among  us 
inquiring  into  the  actual  effect  upon  the  populations  of 
that  immense  and  various  country  of  the  new  influences 
implicit  in  the  relationship  which  exists  between  them 
and  the  people  of  this  land.  Here  I  will  take  leave  to 
recommend  to  your  attention  the  current  issue  of  the 
journal  published,  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel,  under  the  title  "  East  and  West."  A 
shilling  would  be  well  expended  in  the  purchase  of  this 
journal.  From  beginning  to  end  of  this  quarter's  issue 
there  is  scarcely  one  uninteresting  or  unimportant  page. 
The  opening  article  by  the  Bishop  of  Southampton, 

275  s  2 


Westminster  Sermons 

lately  Bishop  of  Bombay,  on  the  unrest  in  India  a  nd 
some  of  its  causes,  ought  to  be  widely  read.  It 
appears  evident  to  those  who  have  personal  knowledge 
of  the  East,  that  a  process  of  disintegration  has  been 
set  up  by  the  rapid  introduction  of  western  ideas  and 
methods,  and  that,  since  the  principal  agent  of  western 
influence  is,  for  sufficient  and  notorious  reasons,  limited 
in  its  range  of  action  to  those  concerns  which  we  call 
secular,  the  eastern  peoples  are  threatened  with  the 
most  grievous  injur)'  conceivable.  We  are  destroying 
their  ancestral  beliefs,  and  undermining  the  morality 
which  those  beliefs  sustained,  and  withal  bringing  no 
substitute  for  either.  Bishop  Lefroy,  of  Lahore,  has 
stated  the  case  with  admirable  lucidity  in  an  article 
contributed  to  the  volume  of  essays,  "  Church  and 
Empire,"  which  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  has 
commended  to  our  attention  as  the  composition  "  of 
men  who  are  on  every  ground  entitled  to  be  listened 
to."  After  stating  that  the  great  systems  of  Indian 
thought,  life,  and  religious  belief  are  necessarily 
breaking  up  and  passing  away  under  the  contact  of 
our  keener,  more  vigorous  western  civilization  and 
thought,  Bishop  Lefroy  proceeds  : — 

"  But  what  words  can  adequately  depict  the  seriousness  of  such 
a  state  of  things,  the  gravity  of  the  issue  which  has  to  be  faced? 
As  the  old  passes  away,  in  what  mould  is  the  new  civilization  and 
life  and  thought  of  this  marvellous  old  land  to  be  cast — in  that 
of  materialism,  or  of  a  living  faith  in  God  ? 

"  Against  the  former  alternative  the  whole  of  India's  past  life 
would  seem  to  cry  out  in  vehement  protest ;  and  most  of  us,  I 
suppose,  decline  for  an  instant  to  believe  that  this  can  be  the  great 
and  final  outcome  of  our  contact  with  this  land.  Assuredly  were 
it  to  be  so,  a  more  terrible  indictment  could  never  be  framed 
against  our  motherland  and  our  national  Church  than  would  thus 
he  against  us  at  the  bar  of  history  and  of  God.    That  we  had 

276 


The  Redemption  of  Nationality 

come  to  this  land,  and  found  it — amidst  whatever  terrible 
abuses  and  hideousness  of  belief  and  practice — had  found  it 
religious  to  the  very  core,  had  undermined  that  religious  life, 
broken  it  up,  and  made  its  further  continuance  impossible,  and 
then,  giving  them  no  true  and  life-giving  faith  in  its  place,  had 
left  them  to  drift  anchorless  on  the  sea  of  materialism,  alienated 
from  God  and  without  hope  in  the  world — from  such  a  charge  may 
God  indeed  of  His  infinite  mercy  preserve  us  !  "l 

All  authorities  agree  that  the  sudden  emergence  of 
Japan  as  a  great  power  of  the  western  type  marks  a 
new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  relations  of  East  and 
West ;  that  the  spectacle  of  an  Asiatic  race  conquering, 
in  a  great  war,  a  first-class  European  power  has  dis- 
closed vistas  and  quickened  ambitions  far  and  wide ; 
that  the  rapid  process  of  education  is  opening  the  eyes 
of  the  eastern  peoples  to  their  own  possibilities  and  to 
the  secrets  of  western  strength  and  progress.  The 
missions  of  the  Christian  Church  are  being  increasingly 
recognized  by  thoughtful  students  of  eastern  life,  as 
the  indispensable  factor  which  can  supplement  the 
secular  work  of  the  empire,  and  mitigate  the  materializ- 
ing tendencies  of  European  civilization.  Between  the 
East  and  the  immense  disaster  of  materialism  stands 
the  forlorn  and  embarrassed  figure  of  the  Christian 
missionary,  not  solely,  perhaps  not  mainly,  the 
accredited  preacher  of  the  gospel,  but  the  man, 
whether  clergyman  or  layman,  civil  servant  or  mer- 
chant, soldier  or  sailor,  clerk  or  engineer,  who  carries 
into  his  habitual  contact  with  the  people  of  the  east 
the  spirit  of  Jesus,  quickening  responsibility,  sustaining 
often  against  the  greatest  difficulties  the  severe  purity 
of  the  Christian  law,  colouring  all  the  actions  of  an 


1  Pp-  73.  74- 
277 


Westminster  Sermons 


arduous  life  with  the  dignity  of  self-respect,  and  the 
high  justice  of  Christian  charity.  These  Christian 
missionaries  redeem  empire  from  baseness,  and  arrest 
the  desecrating  forces  of  an  eager  and  selfish  commerce. 

2.  While,  thus,  there  is  a  general  and  increasing 
agreement  as  to  the  importance,  nay  the  indispensable- 
ness,  of  Christian  missions,  there  is  also  a  growing 
perception  of  the  mistakes  which  have  marked,  and  do 
still  mark,  the  missionary  methods  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  some  approach  to  agreement  in  the  matter 
of  evangelistic  policy.  In  two  respects  we  are  being 
led  to  perceive  that  a  change  is  necessary.  On  the  one 
hand,  we  must  reach  some  measure  of  working  harmony, 
and  spare  the  non-Christian  peoples  the  truly  dismaying 
spectacle  of  "  our  unhappy  divisions,"  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  must  deal  more  reverently  with  the  distinctive 
nationalities  of  the  non-Christian  world.  We  must 
appreciate  "the  religious  climate"  of  the  East,  and 
realize  that  our  traditional  notions  about  the  gospel  are 
not  necessarily,  or  even  probably,  worth  transplanting 
to  other  lands.  We  must  be  at  once  less  confident  and 
more  courageous,  less  well-assured  of  our  own  western 
theology,  and  more  convinced  of  the  fashioning  power  of 
Christ's  gospel.  This  is  the  main  argument  of  a  little 
volume  entitled  "  The  Empire  of  Christ,"  recently  pub- 
lished by  Messrs.  Macmillan,  which  I  take  leave  to 
advise  you  all  to  read.  The  author  insists  on  a  larger 
view  of  the  Christian  gospel  than  has  hitherto  governed 
missionary  work.  It  is  indeed  the  old  prophetic  view 
restored  to  its  place  in  the  thought  of  the  Church. 
Not  individuals  merely,  but  nations  are  to  be  redeemed, 
nations  as  nations,  with  all  the  constituents  of  their 

278 


The  Redemption  of  Nationality 

nationality  cleansed,  exalted,  and  enriched,  nothing  of 
the  whole  wondrous  creation  compromised  or  lost.  He 
reminds  us  of  the  great  lesson  of  Christian  experience, 
how,  under  the  benign  and  stimulating  influence  of  the 
Incarnate,  human  life  has  displayed  its  potentialities 
most  freely  and  fully  ;  and  he  pleads  for  faith  to  perceive 
that  what  Christ  has  done  for  the  Teutonic  races,  He 
is  commissioned  to  do  for  the  Asiatic  peoples,  and  that 
our  duty  is  so  to  bring  His  gospel  to  the  nations  of  the 
East,  that  they  also  may  be  able  to  find  in  it  the  fulfil- 
ment of  all  that  they  have  been  led  to  aspire  after  and 
attempt  of  righteousness  and  truth.  If,  indeed,  as  we 
consider  the  grotesque  aspect  of  Oriental  religions,  and 
the  customs,  tyrannous  and  degrading,  of  Oriental 
society,  we  are  tempted  to  question  the  potential  worth 
of  both,  and  to  despair  of  the  redemption  of  either,  we 
must  recover  confidence  in  the  power  of  Christ,  and  the 
catholic  range  of  His  working,  by  holding  our  minds 
steadily  to  the  revealed  purpose  of  God,  recalling  the 
triumphs  of  Christ  in  the  past,  and  resigning  to  His 
wonder-working  providence  the  final  achievement  of 
His  plans :  "  Behold,  I  have  given  him  for  a  witness  to 
the  peoples,  a  leader  and  commander  to  the  peoples. 
For  my  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  neither  are 
your  ways  my  ways,  saith  the  Lord." 


279 


XXII 

CHRIST  AND  NATIONALITY1 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  LORD  GOD  IS  UPON  ME  J  BECAUSE  THE  LORD 
HATH  ANOINTED  ME  TO  PREACH  GOOD  TIDINGS  UNTO  THE  MEEK; 
HE  HATH  SENT  ME  TO  BIND  UP  THE  BROKEN-HEARTED,  TO  PRO- 
CLAIM LIBERTY  TO  THE  CAPTIVES,  AND  THE  OPENING  OF  THE 
PRISON  TO  THEM  THAT  ARE  BOUND  ;  TO  PROCLAIM  THE  ACCEPTABLE 
YEAR  OF  THE  LORD,  AND  THE  DAY  OF  VENGEANCE  OF  OUR  GOD  ;  TO 
COMFORT  ALL  THAT  MOURN  IN  ZION,  TO  GIVE  UNTO  THEM  A 
GARLAND  FOR  ASHES,  THE  OIL  OF  JOY  FOR  MOURNING,  THE  GAR- 
MENT OF  PRAISE  FOR  THE  SPIRIT  OF  HEAVINESS;  THAT  THEY 
MIGHT  BE  CALLED  TREES  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS,  THE  PLANTING  OF 
THE  LORD,  THAT  HE  MIGHT  BE  GLORIFIED. — ISAIAH  lxi.  I— 3. 

These  are  words  of  religious  hope  spoken  by  a 
prophet  of  the  Lord  to  his  countrymen  at  a  dark  hour 
of  their  history  as  a  nation.  Israel  was  in  exile,  far 
banished  from  that  sacred  soil  on  which,  as  they 
believed,  they  had  been  planted  by  the  express  will  of 
Jehovah,  amid  demonstrations  of  His  favouring  provi- 
dence. They  had  long  exulted  in  the  assurance  that 
they  were  His  "  chosen  people,"  and  many  prophets 
had  promised  them  in  His  name  an  illustrious  future. 
Yet  experience  had  not  justified  their  faith.  They 
found  themselves  outcasts  from  the  "  land  of  promise  "  : 
blotted  out  from  the  map  of  the  world ;  no  more  a 
nation,  no  more  even  a  visible  Church  ;  only  a  company 
of  conquered  men  serving  their  conquerors  in  the 
"  land  of  captivity."  We  may  be  sure  that  failure  of 
personal  faith  came  to  many  in  the  wake  of  public 

1  Preached  in  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  the  2nd  Sunday 
after  Epiphany,  January  17,  1909,  in  aid  of  the  Lord  Mayor's 
fund  for  the  victims  of  the  Italian  earthquake. 

280 


Christ  and  Nationality 

disasters.  In  that  stage  of  religious  development 
religion  was  so  little  a  concern  for  the  individual,  and 
so  much  a  concern  for  the  nation,  that  when  the  nation 
collapsed  the  individual  was  as  a  lost  man,  bewildered 
and  undone.  Yet  that  very  disaster,  in  which  the  very 
bases  of  religion  seemed  to  be  destroyed,  was  to  be  the 
means  of  a  recovery  of  religion  in  a  deeper  and  purer 
form,  no  longer  tied  to  the  national  fortunes,  but  rooted 
in  personal  conviction.  From  the  Babylonian  exile  the 
Jews  would  come  back  to  Palestine  far  other  than  they 
went  out,  having  learned  much  and  unlearned  more  in 
the  years  of  exile.  The  close  of  the  exile  had  witnessed 
the  rise  of  a  new  type  of  prophet,  less  political  and  more 
spiritual  than  of  old,  more  concerned  with  the  sincerity 
of  the  national  religion  than  with  the  prosperity  of  the 
nation,  addressing  its  message  therefore  ever  more  to 
the  individual  conscience  and  less  to  the  general  mind. 
Not  that  the  later  prophets  surrendered  the  ancient 
national  hopes,  only  they  conceived  of  their  fulfilment  in 
more  spiritual  ways,  and  did  not  bind  up  faith  and 
fortune  in  the  old  manner.  Glorious  fortunes  were  still 
promised  to  the  nation,  but  always  it  was  insisted  upon 
that  the  nation  must  first  be  cleansed  in  its  constituent 
individuals.  Ezekiel  unites  the  assurance  of  individual 
purification  with  the  promise  of  national  prosperity  ; 
the  first  is  the  condition  of  the  last :  "  I  will  put  my 
spirit  within  you,  and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes, 
and  ye  shall  keep  my  judgments,  and  do  them.  And 
ye  shall  dwell  in  the  land  that  I  gave  to  your  fathers  : 
and  ye  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  your  God." 

What  was  the  effect  of  Christ's  advent  on  this  national 
hope  ?    Did  He  make  an  end  of  all  distinctive  claims  of 

281 


Westminster  Sermons 


Jewish  nationality  ?  Is  discipleship  to  be  understood 
only  in  a  strictly  individual  sense  ?  Is  Christianity 
hostile  to  the  separate  and  distinctive  characteristics  of 
the  nations  ?  Will  there  finally  be  no  room  found  for 
variety  of  national  types  in  the  triumphant  establish- 
ment of  the  "  kingdom  of  heaven  "  ?  These  are 
questions  which  naturally  suggest  themselves  at  this 
Epiphany  season,  when  the  wondrous  self-manifestation 
of  God  in  Christ  is  the  subject  of  Christian  thought. 
Let  us  consider  but  the  single  point  of  the  destiny  of 
nations  within  the  Christian  scheme. 

Our  Saviour  was  always  careful  to  respect  the  national 
hope ;  avowedly  He  came  "  not  to  destroy,  but  to 
fulfil  "  ;  He  never  moved  outside  the  frontiers  of  Pales- 
tine, and  His  personal  example  was  that  of  a  loyal 
Israelite.  He  joined  the  public  worship  of  the  temple 
and  the  synagogue,  and  made  the  scriptures  the  founda- 
tion of  His  preaching.  Nothing  could  be  less  revolu- 
tionary than  the  whole  aspect  of  His  ministry.  At  the 
same  time,  Christ  clearly  taught  that  He  was  the  agent 
of  an  immense  and  abiding  change.  The  "  kingdom  of 
God  "  which  was  the  burden  of  His  preaching  would 
effect  a  complete  though  silent  revolution  on  the  earth. 
It  would  finally  recreate  society  in  church  and  state  on 
principles  as  yet  unrecognized  in  either.  All  mankind 
came  within  the  range  of  His  mission,  and  the  consum- 
mation of  all  things  would  be  found  in  a  complete 
ejection  from  God's  kingdom  of  all  evil. 

In  dealing  with  individuals  Christ  was  plainly  careful 
to  observe  and  discipline,  never  to  destroy,  their 
distinctive  characters.  No  more  clearly  marked  indi- 
vidualities are  to  be  found  than  those  of  the  apostles ; 

282 


Christ  and  Nationality 

and  ever  since  Christianity  has  strengthened  and 
consecrated  the  individuality  of  its  professors.  The 
recognized  saints  of  Christendom  are  not  a  series  of 
replicas  of  one  model,  but  a  various  multitude  of 
individuals,  consecrated  and  directed  by  one  divine 
Spirit.  Historically  considered — that  is,  having  its  true 
nature  and  tendency  deduced  from  its  actual  course  in 
history — Christianity  must  be  judged  to  be  equally 
favourable  to  the  individuality  of  nations.  Nationality 
has  flowered  most  richly  under  the  influence  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

This  aspect  of  the  Redemption  was  not  unknown  to 
the  apostolic  founders  of  the  Church.  In  becoming 
disciples  they  did  not  abandon,  still  less  repudiate,  the 
national  hope,  which  they  had  inherited  from  the 
prophets  of  the  older  covenant.  They  interpreted  the 
great  language  of  Jewish  patriotism  more  spiritually 
and  more  humanely,  but  they  renounced  nothing  of  the 
religious  heritage.  An  individual  salvation  could  not 
satisfy  them  ;  they  must  find  in  the  final  triumph  of  the 
Redeemer  the  satisfaction  of  their  national  ideal  as  well 
as  the  vindication  of  their  personal  faith.  The  Church 
was  spoken  of  as  the  true  Israel,  and  believers  were 
a  "  holy  nation."  It  may  well  be  the  case  that  the 
apostles  and  their  converts  could  not  apprehend  the 
full  meaning  of  the  words  they  used :  but  experience 
rectified  their  errors,  and  widened  their  vision,  so  that 
it  is  matter  of  fact  that  they  have  left  as  their  legacy 
to  the  Church  writings  which  are  singularly  free  from 
Judaistic  nationalism,  and  frankly  compatible  with 
nationality  in  its  widest  expression.  The  apocalyptic 
seer,  when  he  draws  his  picture  of  the  triumphant 

283 


Westminster  Sermons 


Church  under  the  symbol  of  the  "  holy  city  Jerusalem 
coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God "  sees  therein 
the  nations  walking  in  its  light,  and  their  kings, 
the  public  demonstrations  of  national  independence, 
"  bringing  their  glory  into  it."  Thus  he  unites  in 
the  final  victory  of  Christ  both  individual  and  nation  1 
redemption. 

The  Roman  empire,  we  said,  was  hostile  to  national 
development ;  and,  we  must  add,  that  hostility  has 
been  perpetuated  in  the  Roman  Church,  in  which  the 
spirit  of  the  empire  continued  after  its  external  fabric 
had  perished.  The  papacy  has  been  happily  described 
as  "  the  ghost  of  the  Roman  Empire  sitting  crowned 
on  the  ruins  thereof."  Let  it  be  admitted  that  the 
whole  interest  of  mankind  is  not  contained  in  the 
formula  of  national  development ;  and  that  the  stern 
discipline  of  external  law,  overriding  the  claims  of 
nations,  was  indispensable  in  the  earlier  phases  of 
social  development.  The  Roman  papacy,  in  the  child- 
hood of  Europe,  fulfilled  a  necessary  function ;  but 
when  childhood  was  outpassed,  and  nationality  grew  to 
the  fulness  of  its  powers,  that  function  of  authoritative 
control  ceased  to  be  necessary,  and  the  attempt  to 
perpetuate  its  exercise  brought  great  misfortunes  to  the 
world.  At  the  Reformation  the  conflict  between  the 
rightful  claims  of  maturing  nationhood  and  the  obsolete 
claims  of  ecclesiastical  authority,  which  had  been 
smouldering  under  the  surface  of  mediaeval  Christen- 
dom for  many  years,  broke  out  violently,  and  rent 
Christendom  asunder.  Happily  it  was  possible  to 
distinguish  between  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  Empire 
which  inspired  the  papacy  and  the  genuine  spirit  of 

284 


Christ  and  Nationality 

Christ's  religion.  The  making  clear  of  that  vital 
distinction  was  the  great  service  rendered  to  mankind 
by  the  reformers.  Wherever  the  Reformation  was 
accepted  a  reconciliation  was  effected  between  the 
gospel  and  the  nation  ;  and  the  true  character  of 
Christ's  religion  as  the  cleansing  and  exalting  of  what- 
soever is  genuinely  natural  to  man  was  vindicated. 
National  churches  replaced  the  single  organization  of 
the  mediaeval  Church.  The  authority  of  Christ  as 
expressed  in  the  New  Testament  was  set  above  the 
authority  of  the  hierarchy  centred  in  the  Pope.  It  has 
followed  from  all  this  that  national  development  has 
proceeded  within  the  sphere  of  the  Reformation  more 
easily  and  with  larger  result  than  outside  it.  The 
countries  from  which  the  Reformation  was  driven,  and 
in  which  the  power  of  the  papacy  was  established,  have 
been  the  scene  of  constant  friction  between  church 
and  state,  so  that  Christianity  has  seemed  to  take  the 
character  of  an  anti-national  force.  Yet  the  unfaltering 
instinct  of  patriotism  has  ever  turned  to  Christianity  in 
expectation  and  appeal,  and  the  distortion  of  Christianity 
by  the  sacerdotal  or  clericalist  system  has  been  deeply 
resented.  Nowhere  has  all  this  been  more  con- 
spicuously illustrated  than  in  the  history  of  that  nation 
which  to-day  is  the  object  of  universal  sympathy. 
Italy,  beyond  any  other  nation,  has  been  the  victim  of 
the  papacy ;  and  when,  so  recently  that  the  older  men 
among  us  can  remember  the  facts,  Italian  nationhood 
was  enabled  to  find  political  expression,  the  victory  of 
national  liberty  had  no  bitterer  foe  than  the  Pope. 
Yet  the  Italian  patriots  were  slow  to  believe  that  the 
chief  representative  of  Christ's  religion  would  resist 

285 


Westminster  Sermons 


their  righteous  and  beneficent  purpose.  Nothing  could 
be  more  pathetically  suggestive  than  the  pertinacity 
with  which  they  cherished  the  belief  that  Pius  IX.  was 
the  friend  of  Italian  liberty  instead  of  its  worst  foe ; 
and  never  since  that  great  crisis  have  there  been  lacking 
Italian  patriots,  who  have  dreamed  of  a  reconciliation 
between  the  Church  and  the  nation  of  Italy.  Assuredly 
the  supposition  which  underlies  that  dream  is  sound. 
Christ's  religion  has  its  true  expression  in  patriotism, 
and  consecrates  nationality.  Here  in  England,  where 
the  harmony  between  Christianity  and  patriotism  has 
for  centuries  been  manifest,  and  is  now  an  essential 
part  of  our  political  tradition,  we  applaud  and  en- 
courage the  hope  of  those  Italian  patriots  who  are  also 
Christians.  May  the  blessing  of  the  Almighty  be  upon 
them,  and  crown  their  efforts  and  sufferings  with 
complete  and  lasting  success ! 

Now  let  me  say  something  about  the  appeal  which 
is  addressed  to  us  to-day.  The  unparalleled  extent  of 
the  disaster,  the  terrifying  character  of  its  incidents, 
and  the  bewildering  necessities  which  it  has  occasioned 
are  all  well  known  to  you,  and  I  need  not  dilate  on 
them  here.  If,  however,  there  be  any  among  us  who 
are  disposed  to  resent  the  acceptance  of  responsibility 
for  foreign  distress  when  there  is  so  much  domestic 
distress  which  is  inadequately  relieved,  those  are  con- 
siderations which  may  well  remove  their  resentment. 
There  are  misfortunes  so  grievous  that  all  ordinary 
troubles  seem  petty  beside  them,  and  assuredly  such  a 
grievous  misfortune  is  this.  In  the  history  of  Europe 
there  has  been  nothing  like  it,  so  far  as  our  historic 
records  tell.    Imagine  the  whole  population  of  the  city 

286 


Christ  and  Nationality 

of  Westminster  suddenly  crushed  to  death  beneath  the 
ruins  of  their  houses,  and  you  will  only  be  imagining 
what  has  actually  happened  in  Sicily  and  Calabria. 
When  the  loss  of  life  has  been  so  appalling,  it  is  hardly 
worth  while  to  speak  of  the  destruction  of  property, 
yet  this  has  been  immense.  Italy,  the  most  peaceful  of 
the  nations  in  time  of  peace,  has  in  a  night  lost  more 
than  the  cost  of  a  considerable  war.  In  face  of  a 
disaster  on  such  a  scale  surely  there  is  no  fitness  in 
speaking  about  our  home  difficulties. 

Then,  I  think,  this  is  a  time  when  we  may  well 
remind  ourselves  of  the  debt  we  owe  to  Italy.  From 
Italy  came  the  Roman  law,  which  taught  the  barbarous 
peoples  of  Europe  the  principles  of  justice  and  equity. 
From  Italy  came  the  Roman  missionaries,  who  carried 
to  our  heathen  ancestors  the  message  of  the  gospel. 
From  Italy,  at  the  Renaissance,  came  the  arts  and  the 
knowledge  of  classical  literature,  which  gave  new  birth 
to  the  intellectual  life  of  Europe.  The  poorest  English- 
man who  has  never  left  this  island  cannot  shut  his 
eyes  to  the  greatness  of  Italy.  Let  him  go  to  the 
Abbey  and  wonder  at  the  mosaic  floor  which  after  more 
than  six  centuries  retains  its  strength  and  beauty  ;  let 
him  admire  the  monuments  of  Henry  III.  and 
Henry  VII.  and  the  Lady  Margaret,  his  mother, 
and  remember  that  Italian  artists  made  them  all.  Let 
him  go  to  the  more  modern  cathedral  of  S.  Paul, 
which  is  the  finest  effort  of  English  architects,  and,  as 
he  gazes  at  the  great  building,  let  him  remember  that 
the  style  is  Italian,  and  the  latest  decorations  modelled 
on  Italian  works.  Let  him  visit  the  National  Gallery 
and  see  room  after  room  glowing  with  the  master- 
pieces of  Italian  painters.    If  he  is  a  student  of  history, 

287 


Westminster  Sermons 

let  him  take  from  the  shelves  the  record  of  the  struggles 
for  Italian  independence,  and  exult  in  the  chivalry  and 
heroism  of  Italian  patriots.  If  we  are  able  to  travel 
and  have  visited  Italy,  what  a  debt  we  must  acknow- 
ledge to  that  lovely  land,  so  rich  in  the  memorials  of 
the  famous  past,  in  the  creations  of  ancient  civilization, 
in  the  accumulated  treasures  of  ancient  art,  and  to  that 
kind  and  joyous  people  who  make  the  English  traveller 
so  welcome.  Gratitude  as  well  as  compassion  must 
incline  us  to  make  an  effort  to  bring  help  to  Italy  in 
this  dreadful  time  of  trouble.  Assuredly  a  more  sacred 
motive  than  either  cannot  be  wanting  here.  "  Bear  ye 
one  another's  burdens,"  said  S.  Paul,  "  and  so  fulfil 
the  law  of  Christ."  A  greater  than  S.  Paul,  He  from 
whom  S.  Paul  learned  the  sublime  doctrine  of  charity 
which  glows  on  the  pages  of  his  epistles,  his  Master  and 
ours,  has  summed  up  all  religion  in  the  tender  and 
moving  gospel  of  fraternity.  "  One  is  your  teacher  : 
all  ye  are  brethren."  "  A  new  commandment  give  I 
unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  another."  "  Inasmuch  as 
ye  do  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye 
do  it  unto  me."  "  Freely  ye  received  ;  freely  give." 
He  declared  that  He  was  Himself  appointed  to  fulfil 
that  great  mission  of  comfort  which  the  prophet  of 
exiled  Israel  had  described  ;  and  He  made  clear  that 
He  would  effect  that  fulfilment  through  His  disciples. 
He  associated  them  with  Himself  in  the  great  venture 
of  consolation.  Through  them  He  would  still  be  in  the 
world  "  binding  up  the  broken-hearted  "  and  "  comfort- 
ing all  that  mourn."  In  bearing  help  to  these  sorely- 
afflicted  Italians  we  shall  be  obeying  His  solemn  call : 
"  We  must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me  while 
it  is  day  :  the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can  work." 

288 


XXIII 


A  LAW  OF  LIBERTY1 

SO  SPEAK  YE,  AND  SO  DO,  AS  MEN  THAT  ARE  TO  BE  JUDGED  BY  A 
LAW  OF  LIBERTY. — S.  JAMES  ii.  12. 

I.  Liberty  is  a  name  to  conjure  with.  Alike  in  the 
political  and  in  the  religious  sphere  it  almost  stands  for 
the  synonym  of  truth,  of  wisdom,  of  self-respect.  In 
literature,  as  well  ancient  as  modern,  it  is  the  very 
label  of  human  greatness,  heroism,  and  achievement. 
The  most  illustrious  nations  are  precisely  those  which, 
whatever  may  have  been  their  relative  importance  in 
point  of  size  or  power,  were  conspicuously  free.  Their 
liberty  is  the  sufficient  patent  of  a  nobility  which  never 
provokes  the  resentments  of  the  human  reason  :  the 
symbol  of  a  greatness  which  never  fails  to  maintain  its 
hold  on  human  admiration.  Greece,  Judah,  Florence, 
Switzerland,  Britain  stand  in  the  record  of  history  as 
the  chosen  lands  of  liberty,  and  their  sons  can  only  be 
indifferent  to  the  glory  and  excellence  of  liberty  by 
disowning  their  birthright.  Proudly  the  lowliest  Briton 
recalls  the  ancient  freedom  of  his  race,  and  finds  a 

1  Preached  in  S.  Cuthbert's,  Edinburgh,  on  January  23,  1910,  to 
Young  Men. 


289 


T 


Westminster  Sermons 


moral  invigoration  in  the  retrospect  of  his  national 
past : — 

In  our  halls  is  hung 
Armoury  of  the  invincible  knights  of  old  : 

We  must  be  free  or  die,  who  speak  the  tongue 
That  Shakespeare  spake  ;  the  faith  and  morals  hold 

Which  Milton  held.    In  everything  we  are  sprung 
Of  earth's  first  blood,  have  titles  manifold. 

The  first  object  which  arrests  the  gaze  of  the  traveller 
as  he  approaches  the  city  of  New  York  from  the  sea 
is  the  great  statue  of  Liberty  at  the  entrance  of  the 
harbour,  holding  aloft  a  torch  as  if  guiding  the  nations 
to  the  chosen  land  of  freedom.  Nowhere,  indeed,  in 
the  world  is  there  so  ample  a  homage  offered  to  liberty 
as  in  America.  You  see  it  in  the  carriage  of  the  people  ; 
you  read  it  in  their  newspapers  ;  you  are  reminded  of 
it  in  a  thousand  ways.  The  opening  paragraph  of  the 
"  declaration  of  independence  "  has  sunk  deeply  into 
American  minds,  and  seems  to  impregnate  the  American 
atmosphere  :  "  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident, 
that  all  men  are  created  equal,  that  they  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights,  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap- 
piness." In  proposing  to  address  you  to-night  on  the 
subject  of  liberty,  I  may  surely  count  in  advance  on 
all  the  advantage  which  a  speaker  can  obtain  from  a 
great  and  interesting  theme. 

2.  You  observe  that  in  my  text  liberty  is  strangely 
associated  with  another  conception,  and  one  which  at 
first  sight  might  seem  to  have  little  in  common  with  it, 
the  conception  of  law.  There  is  almost  a  paradoxical 
aspect  about  the  apostle's  phrase  which  compels  reflec- 
tion.    What  can  be  meant  by  "  a  law  of  liberty  "  ? 

290 


A  Law  of  Liberty 

Earlier  in  the  epistle  he  has  used  a  similar  phrase, 
which  evidently  has  the  same  reference.  He  speaks  of 
"  the  perfect  law,  the  law  of  liberty,"  which  brings 
"  blessing  "  on  the  man  who  obeys  it.  When  we  con- 
sider what  may  be  the  origin  of  this  strange  phrase, 
we  remember  that  the  writer  is  a  religious  Jew,  who 
has  been  brought  into  the  closest  relationship  with  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  being  indeed  His  own  brother.  We 
remember  that  he  is  a  leading  figure  in  the  Christian 
Church,  and  has  been  intimately  connected  with  the 
apostle  Paul,  with  whose  characteristic  teachings  he 
was  not  wholly  in  sympathy.  From  these  sources,  the 
Jewish  scriptures,  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  the 
epistles  of  S.  Paul,  he  might  well  have  derived  his 
notion  of  "  a  law  of  liberty."  In  the  Psalms  and  the 
prophets  there  is  the  same  combination  of  liberty  and 
law  as  if  the  latter  were  the  natural  condition  and 
pledge  of  the  other.  "  So  shall  I  observe  thy  law  con- 
tinually for  ever  and  ever.  And  I  will  walk  at  liberty  : 
for  I  have  sought  thy  statutes."  Such  language  is 
freely  scattered  over  the  psalter.  Jeremiah  had  spoken 
of  a  "  covenant "  to  come,  in  which  the  contradiction 
between  law  and  liberty  would  have  ceased  because  the 
righteous  requirements  of  law  would  have  become 
the  free  aspirations  of  the  individual :  "  This  is  the 
covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel 
after  those  days,  saith  the  Lord ;  I  will  put  my  law  in 
their  inward  parts,  and  in  their  heart  will  I  write  it." 
The  rabbis  had  caught  something  of  the  prophet's 
thought  when  they  said  of  the  true  student  of  the  law 
that  he  was  free:  "Thou  wilt  find  no  freemen  but 
him   who  is   occupied   in    learning    the   law  :  and 

291  T  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


whosoever  is  occupied  in  learning  the  law,  behold  he 
exalts  himself."1 

In  the  sermon  on  the  mount  our  Saviour  had  set  in 
clear  contrast  an  external  obedience  to  specific  legal 
requirements,  and  an  internal  acceptance  of  the  very 
principle  aad  purpose  of  the  moral  law ;  and  had 
demanded  of  His  disciples  such  an  obedience  as 
would  bring  them  into  true  agreement  with  the  very 
Author  of  the  moral  law  :  "Ye  therefore  shall  be  per- 
fect as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect."  S.  Paul, 
perhaps  more  completely  than  S.  James,  had  under- 
stood the  teaching  of  the  Master,  and  been  guided  by 
it  not  only  to  a  triumphant  vindication  of  Christian 
liberty  against  the  yoke  of  Jewish  legalism,  but  also  to 
a  firm  grasp  of  the  moral  franchise  inherent  in  disciple- 
ship.  "  For  the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus 
made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  of  death." 
"  Being  made  free  from  sin,  ye  became  servants  of 
righteousness."  "  Where  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  is 
there  is  liberty."  We  may,  indeed,  infer  from  the 
passionate  urgency  of  the  apostle's  language  that  his 
converts  were  scarcely  able  to  rise  to  the  truth  which 
he  taught  them.  The  franchise  of  Christ  was  almost 
too  great  for  those  servile  minds.  Anxiety  and  indigna- 
tion are  blended  in  S.  Paul's  remonstrances :  "  With 
freedom  did  Christ  set  us  free  :  stand  fast  therefore, 
and  be  not  entangled  again  in  a  yoke  of  bondage." 
"  For  ye,  brethren,  were  called  for  freedom  ;  only  use 
not  your  freedom  for  an  occasion  to  the  flesh,  but 
through  love  be  servants  one  to  another."  That 
S.  Paul  had  good  reason  for  anxiety  the  subsequent 
1  Vide  Taylor,  "  Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers,"  p.  113  f. 
292 


A  Law  of  Liberty 

fortunes  of  Christianity  have  abundantly  shown.  Even 
within  the  precincts  of  the  New  Testament  we  have 
indications  that  the  gospel  of  Christian  liberty  had  been 
deplorably  perverted  into  a  teaching  of  licentiousness. 
We  read  of  false  teachers  who  "  promised  liberty " 
to  their  dupes,  "  while  they  themselves  were  bond- 
servants of  corruption."  It  may  be  that  S.  James 
had  such  persons  in  mind  when  he  coined  his  striking 
phrase — in  which  we  can  trace  the  influence  of 
psalmist,  prophet,  Master,  and  colleague — "a  law  of 
liberty." 

3.  Liberty  in  political  history  tends  to  be  identified 
with  freedom  from  external  restraints.  The  champions 
and  martyrs  of  liberty  are  those  who  have  resisted 
unjust  demands,  refused  unwarrantable  exactions, 
defeated  tyrants.  Hence  an  undue  emphasis  has  been 
placed  on  what  might  be  called  the  negative  or 
destructive  side  of  freedom.  On  the  regicide's  cave  at 
Newhaven  I  observed  that  someone  had  inscribed  these 
words  :  "  Opposition  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God." 
The  date,  1803,  which  the  writer  had  added,  allows  us 
to  suppose  that  he  had  in  mind  one  of  two  forms  of 
oppression,  either  that  of  the  older  French  monarchy, 
against  which  the  Revolution  had  been  directed,  or 
that  of  the  new  Napoleonic  empire  which  had  for  the 
time  being  overcome  the  Revolution.  The  sentiment 
underlies  a  good  deal  of  political  discussion  at  the 
present  time,  and  may  stand  as  a  statement  of  what  is 
called  the  "  sacred  right  "  of  insurrection.  I  neither 
deny  nor  belittle  the  justification  of  the  political  doctrine 
when  I  say  that  it  is  a  partial  and  inadequate  conception 
of  liberty  which  limits  it  to  the  destruction  of  tyrannies 

293 


Westminster  Sermons 


political  and  social.  Moral  liberty,  we  know,  is  com- 
patible with  every  extreme  of  political  oppression,  and 
social  hardship.  The  stoics  had  grasped  that  truth, 
when  they  coined  their  familiar  saying  :  "Only  the  wise 
man  is  free  :  every  fool  is  a  slave."  The  most  pathetic 
of  all  human  tragedies  is  the  familiar  combination  of  a 
genuine  passion  for  liberty  and  self-conscious  moral 
enslavement.  Let  me  give  you  a  well-known  but  not 
on  that  account  the  less  impressive  instance.  In 
Dorothy  Wordsworth's  "Journal  of  a  Tour  in 
Scotland  "  there  is  an  account  of  the  poet's  visit  to  the 
grave  of  Robert  Burns.  "  We  looked,"  she  writes, 
"  at  the  grave  with  melancholy  and  painful  reflection, 
repeating  to  each  other  his  own  verses"  : — 

Is  there  a  man  whose  judgment  clear 
Can  others  teach  the  way  to  steer, 
Yet  runs  himself  life's  mad  career, 

Wild  as  the  wave  ? 
Here  let  him  pause,  and  through  a  tear 

Survey  this  grave. 
The  poor  inhabitant  below 
Was  quick  to  learn,  and  wise  to  know, 
And  keenly  felt  the  friendly  glow, 

And  softer  flame ; 
But  thoughtless  follies  laid  him  low 

And  stained  his  name. 

Could  the  pathos  of  conscious  inadequacy  be  more 
touchingly  expressed  ?  I  suppose  that  pathos  rests  in 
some  measure  upon  every  human  life,  perhaps  most 
darkly  on  the  best.  The  mention  of  Wordsworth 
inevitably  recalls  the  thought  of  that  ordered  liberty  to 
which  in  his  personal  life  Burns  never  attained. 
Nowhere  else  has  the  conception  of  a  law  of  liberty 
received  such  noble  and  luminous  illustration  as  in  the 

294 


A  Law  of  Liberty 

immortal  ode  to  duty,  which  surely  should  be  written  in 
the  memory  of  every  young  man.  From  the  solemn 
invocation,  "  Stern  daughter  of  the  voice  of  God  !  "  to 
the  final  prayer  of  self-surrender  : — 

Give  unto  me,  made  lowly  wise, 
The  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  ; 
The  confidence  of  reason  give  ; 
And  in  the  light  of  truth  thy  bondman  let  me  live  ! 

this  incomparable  composition  breathes  a  spirit  of  deep 
and  self-respecting  piety,  which  may  well  give  it  a  place 
among  our  spiritual  classics. 

4.  "  So  speak  ye,  and  so  do,  as  men  that  are  to  be 
judged  by  a  law  of  liberty,"  that  is,  I  suppose,  as  men 
who  have  been  clothed  with  the  franchise  of  Christ, 
called  to  a  "reasonable  service,"  even  that  service  of 
God,  which  is  "  perfect  freedom,"  in  whose  hearts 
dwells  that  "  spirit  of  the  Lord,"  whose  presence  is  the 
sure  pledge  of  liberty,  who  walk  in  the  way  of  that 
commandment  which,  as  the  psalmist  sang,  is  "exceed- 
ing broad."  "  For  all  things  are  yours:  whether  Paul, 
or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or 
things  present,  or  things  to  come ;  all  are  yours  ;  and 
ye  are  Christ's  ;  and  Christ  is  God's."  Such  words  of 
bounding  enthusiasm  seem  natural  and  fitting  when 
they  are  addressed  to  Christian  youth,  young  men  with 
the  unwasted  powers  of  their  manhood,  and  the  undis- 
closed possibilities  of  their  life,  as  it  were  in  their  hands, 
facing  the  future  in  the  full  dignity  of  their  spiritual 
sonship,  looking  around  them  on  a  world  which  they 
know  to  be  theirs  by  inheritance,  for  "  the  earth  is  the 
Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof,"  and  they  are,  and  own 
themselves  to  be,  His   children.    Yes:   youth  has  a 

295 


Westminster  Sermons 


glory  and  a  greatness  of  its  own,  which  no  other  time  of 
life  can  match  : — 

Flowers  are  lovely  !    Love  is  flower-like  ; 
b  riendship  is  a  sheltering  tree  ; 
O  the  joys,  that  came  down  shower-like, 
Of  friendship,  love,  and  liberty, 
Ere  I  was  old. 

So  we  sing  in  later  life,  casting  glances  of  regret  upon 
the  distant  springtime  of  life,  and  doubtless  seeing  it 
transfigured  in  retrospect.  A  sober  reflection  will  not 
resent  such  language.  The  wise  man's  appeal  rings 
true,  as  well  in  his  homage  to  youth  as  in  his  suggestion 
of  harder  days  to  come  :  "  Remember  also  thy  Creator 
in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  or  ever  the  evil  days  come,  and 
the  years  draw  nigh  when  thou  shalt  say,  I  have  no 
pleasure  in  them."  Just  because  youth  is  invested  with 
such  august  prerogatives,  and  carries  such  a  treasure  of 
possibilities,  the  friend  of  youth  would  press  on  the 
young  man's  attention,  with  the  more  anxious  and 
affectionate  insistence,  the  frailty  of  his  tenure  of  those 
prerogatives,  and  the  contingent  character  of  all  those 
possibilities  ;  and  would  address  to  him  the  more 
earnestly  the  apostle's  appeal :  "  So  speak  ye,  and  so 
do,  as  men  that  are  to  be  judged  by  a  law  of  liberty." 

5.  Among  the  logia  or  sayings,  which  have  recently 
been  recovered  from  the  preserving  sands  of  Egypt, 
there  is  one  which  in  Dr.  Swete's  version  reads 
thus : — 

"Jesus  saith  :  'Who  are  they  that  draw  you  to  the  kingdom? 
The  kingdom  is  in  heaven  ;  but  they  that  are  on  earth  and  the 
birds  of  the  heaven  and  every  creature  that  is  under  the  earth  and 
in  Hades  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  these  are  they  that  draw  you  to 
it.    And  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you,  and  whosoever 

296 


A  Law  of  Liberty 

shall  know  himself  shall  find  it ;  for  if  ye  shall  truly  know  your- 
selves, ye  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Father  Almighty,  and 
ye  shall  know  yourselves  to  be  in  the  city  of  God,  and  ye  are  the 
city.' " 

The  teaching  of  this  remarkable  logion  seems  to  be 
thoroughly  evangelical.  Given  the  right  point  of  view, 
then  all  nature  and  all  life  become  serviceable  to  human 
guidance  and  help.  All  lead  to  the  kingdom  of  God : 
nay,  all  discover  themselves  to  be  factors  of  the  king- 
dom, in  settled  and  salutary  alliance  with  the  sons  of 
the  kingdom.  For  they  have  the  power  of  piercing 
through  the  sorry  and  dismal  disguises  of  sin,  which 
seem  to  transmute  the  good  things  of  God  into  the 
very  agents  of  evil ;  they  see  all  things  as  they  truly 
are  in  His  idea  who  made  them,  as  they  shall  surely 
become,  when  His  handling  in  providence  has  fulfilled 
itself,  and  "  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea."  As  the  apostle 
said,  "  To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure  :  but  to  them 
that  are  defiled  and  unbelieving  nothing  is  pure  :  but 
both  their  mind  and  their  conscience  are  defiled." 
Yes ;  the  solemnity  of  youth  lies  in  its  potency  of  ruin, 
as  well  as  in  its  potency  of  blessing.  The  risks  are 
equal  to  the  hopes  :  the  shadows  are  the  deeper,  since 
the  sunlight  is  so  bright.  Perhaps  these  risks  are 
mostly  connected  with  a  mistaken  notion  of  natural 
liberty.    Two  errors  may  be  distinguished. 

6.  Natural  liberty  is  thought  to  imply  a  right  of  self- 
expression,  which  is  really  identical  with  the  older  and 
less  pleasing  phrase,  self-indulgence.  The  young  man 
is  conscious  of  the  powers  of  his  manhood,  physical, 
mental,  moral,  and  he  desires  to  put  them  all  to  the 


297 


Westminster  Sermons 

proof.  He  would  have  no  chamber  of  pleasurable  sen- 
sation closed  against  him  ;  he  would  traverse  the  whole 
cycle  of  possible  experiences.  Everything  that  inter- 
poses an  obstacle  between  desire  and  enjoyment  is 
resented  as  a  violation  of  natural  liberty.  If  it  be 
circumstance,  the  narrowing  conditions  of  social 
obscurity  or  poverty,  then  these  are  resented  and 
rebelled  against,  and  the  ripening  character  is  dis- 
astrously blighted  by  a  premature  bitterness.  If  it 
be  the  remonstrances  of  those  older  and  wiser  than 
ourselves,  then  these  are  misinterpreted  and  disregarded, 
and  the  reckless  temper  of  the  rebel  acquired  in  advance 
of  provocation  or  excuse.  Let  it  be  observed  that  there 
are  two  fallacies  underlying  the  claim  of  an  unimpeded 
self-expression.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  assumed  that 
the  clamant  self  is  competent  to  understand  and 
formulate  the  true  requirements  of  nature.  On  the 
other  hand  it  is  forgotten  that  the  immaturity  of  youth 
must  needs  disqualify  it  for  the  independence  which 
youth,  just  because  it  is  immature  and  therefore  inex- 
perienced, is  eager  to  demand.  These  are  formidable 
fallacies  indeed.  For  Christianity  is  not  alone  in 
teaching  the  untrustworthiness  of  individual  versions 
of  human  nature.  Science  has  stern  teachings  as  to 
the  influences  of  heredity  and  environment  which  it 
requires  little  more  than  an  easy  accommodation  of 
language  to  identify  with  the  older  Christian  teachings 
as  to  the  fall  of  man  and  the  sin  of  the  world.  It  may 
well  be  that  the  impetuous  and  imperative  demands  of 
your  nature  are  really  born  of  pre-natal  perversions  of 
it,  or  reflect  the  unfortunate  conditions  under  which  it 
has  become  articulate,  and  so  are  verily  false  witnesses 

298 


A  Law  of  Liberty 

as  to  the  true  requirements  of  self-expression  in  your 
case.  In  clothing  with  final  authority  the  desires  which 
are  paramount  in  youth  you  may  be  engaging  yourself 
in  a  life-long  bondage. 

7.  Natural  liberty,  again,  is  thought  to  be  inconsistent 
with  restraint  of  authority,  whereas  the  truth  affirmed 
by  religion  and  confirmed  by  experience  teaches  pre- 
cisely the  contrary.  Natural  liberty,  the  power  to 
exercise  rightly  and  fruitfully  natural  faculties,  implies 
self-subjection  to  the  restraints  of  law.  This  perhaps 
is  most  clearly  seen  in  the  case  of  the  mental  powers. 
Will  any  one  maintain  that  intellectual  self-expression 
is  best  secured  by  no  education,  or  by  self-chosen 
education  ?  Is  it  not  plain  that  the  indispensable 
conditions  of  effective  intellectual  self-expression  are 
those  of  a  sound  education  in  youth  ?  When  we  come 
to  all  that  class  of  human  actions  which  we  call  moral, 
with  respect  to  which  most  especially  the  conflict 
between  a  false  independence  and  the  demand  of  duty 
is  waged,  the  same  law  holds.  Disregard  restraint  in 
the  interest  of  liberty,  and  you  end  by  destroying  liberty 
itself.  Accept  restraint  as  the  condition  of  liberty,  and 
you  end  by  dispensing  with  restraint  altogether. 

I  will  take  leave  to  illustrate  my  argument  by  a 
reference  to  that  deplorable  vice  of  drunkenness  which 
degrades  so  many  of  our  countrymen,  and  which  weighs 
so  heavily  on  the  fair  fame  of  Scotland.  Unthinking 
youth  claims  the  natural  right  to  satisfy  appetite ; 
resents  and  rejects  the  warning  of  religion  that  in  such 
indulgences  life-long  chains  of  sensual  habit  are  manu- 
factured. A  few  years  pass  and  the  man,  broken  in 
health  and  shamed  in  reputation,  acknowledges  the 

299 


Westminster  Sermons 


wisdom  of  temperance,  and  perforce  declares  that  he 
has  lost  the  power  to  be  temperate. 

Last  July  I  stood  for  the  first  time  beside  the  famous 
Falls  of  Niagara  ;  it  was  my  last  day  in  the  United 
States,  and  I  desired  to  invest  it  with  majestic  associa- 
tions. As  I  gazed  on  that  immense  cataract,  where  a 
vast  river  contracts  suddenly  and  hurls  a  mighty  volume 
of  water  into  a  chasm  nearly  200  feet  below,  I  shivered 
at  the  irresistible  power  of  inanimate  nature.  Then  as 
my  eyes  rested  on  the  electric  power  houses  on  either 
bank  I  reflected  on  the  strange  paradox  which  enabled 
men  to  bind  to  their  service  these  forces  of  nature, 
before  which  they  seemed  so  feeble.  The  words  of  the 
psalmist  recurred  to  my  mind,  "  What  is  man  that  Thou 
art  mindful  of  him,  and  the  son  of  man  that  Thou 
regardest  him  ?  Thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower 
than  God  :  Thou  crownest  him  with  glory  and  honour." 
I  turned  to  climb  again  the  bank  from  Goat  Island, 
and  there  before  me,  stumbling  with  uncertain  steps 
and  scarcely  held  from  falling  by  a  humiliated  woman, 
was  a  drunken  man.  The  physical  force  of  nature  and 
the  moral  weakness  of  man  united  in  a  single  picture 
formed  a  contrast  enigmatic  and  afflicting.  "  So  speak 
ye,  and  so  do,  as  men  that  are  to  be  judged  by  a  law  of 
liberty." 

8.  Young  men,  you,  as  all  who  before  you  have  run 
the  race  of  life,  must  make  your  choice  between  the 
false  liberty  which  refuses  restraint  and  the  true  liberty 
which  accepts  law,  between  the  franchise  of  self-indul- 
gence and  the  franchise  of  self-mastery.  The  world  in 
which  3'our  election  must  be  made  will  not  help  you  ; 
its  syren  voices  will  reach  you  at  every  turn,  and  you 

300 


A  Law  of  Liberty 

will  have  within  yourself  answering  voices  of  desire, 
protesting,  demanding,  your  self-surrender  to  sin.  But 
if  you  will  listen,  ever  with  the  syren  voices  comes  to 
you  another  voice,  austere  yet  tender,  as  of  One  who 
speaks  with  authority  and  speaks  with  love ;  and  the 
burden  of  that  diviner  song  is  an  appeal  which  wakes 
every  element  of  manliness  and  aspiration  within  you, 
for  it  calls  to  service  and  to  self-respect  :  listen  to  that 
song  of  the  Christian  Orpheus,  Jesus  Christ,  and  you 
will  have  no  ears  for  any  other  : — 

The  feeble  echoes  of  that  other  lay, 

Which  held  awhile  their  senses  thralled  and  bound, 

Were  in  the  distance  fading  quite  away, 

A  dull  unheeded  sound. 

"  So  speak  ye,  and  so  do,  as  men  that  are  to  be  judged 
by  a  law  of  liberty." 


301 


XXIV 


ANARCHISM  1 

THOU  SHALT  LOVE  THY  NEIGHBOUR  AS  THYSELF. 

S.  MATTHEW  XXH.  39. 

We  cannot  turn  away  our  thoughts  to-day  from  the 
dark  and  terrible  crime  which  has  just  shocked  the 
civilized  world,  and  I  shall  not  affect  to  ignore  it  as  I 
preach.  It  is,  indeed,  altogether  superfluous  to  add 
anything  here  to  the  expressions  of  horror  for  the  bar- 
barous cruelty  of  the  assassins,  and  of  deep  sympathy 
for  those  whom  that  cruelty  has  plunged  into  affliction, 
which,  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  have  been  made. 
There  needs  no  saying  that  we  share  to  the  full  the 
sentiments  which  have  been  thus  authoritatively  uttered, 
and  we  add  our  prayer  to  Almighty  God,  the  Author 
of  justice  and  the  God  of  all  comfort,  that  He  will 
strengthen  and  sustain  those  who  have  been  called  to 
bear  so  grievous  a  burden  of  sorrow,  and  will  guide  the 
king  and  nation  of  Portugal  into  the  paths  of  righteous 
and  stable  liberty.  The  assassinations  in  Lisbon  belong 
to  a  type  or  category  of  crime  which  is  distinctive  of 
modern  society.  Political  murders  are,  indeed,  no  new 
factor  in  European  politics,  but  there  are  features  about 

1  Preached  on  the  5th  Sunday  after  Epiphany,  February  9, 
1908,  being  the  day  on  which  public  notice  was  taken  of  the 
assassination  of  the  King  and  Crown  Prince  of  Portugal. 


302 


Anarchism 

the  latest  political  murders  which  separate  them  from 
former  crimes  of  a  similar  kind.  Personal  resentments 
have  often  driven  men  into  crime,  and  the  shameless 
statecraft  of  rulers  has  often  guided  the  assassin's  hand. 
Religious  fanaticism  has  transformed  the  service  of  the 
all-loving  Jesus  into  an  abominable  creed  of  murder ; 
and  a  reckless  patriotism  has  not  scrupled  to  emulate 
the  worst  violences  of  tyranny.  In  all  these  cases  there 
is  an  intelligible  motive  for  political  crime,  and  the 
criminal  can  offer  some  excuses,  inadequate  indeed,  and 
arguing  a  depraved  and  perverted  conscience,  but  not 
irrelevant  or  without  force.  The  assassinations  of  our 
time  are  of  another  kind,  and  commonly  have  no  con- 
nection with  any  individual  grievance,  or  with  any 
religious  propaganda,  or  with  patriotism,  or  with  state- 
craft. They  spring  from  a  gloomy  moroseness  which 
has  no  roots  in  conviction,  and  no  restraints  in  duty. 
The  resentments  which  they  reveal  are  neither  local, 
nor  political,  nor  religious.  It  is  order  as  such  that  is 
struck  at,  not  the  particular  representative  of  order  ; 
society  itself  is  rebelled  against,  not  this  or  that  phase 
of  society.  The  freest  republic  may  be  the  scene  of 
political  crime  as  easily  as  the  most  arbitrary  monarchy. 
The  least  responsible  individual  may  be  struck  down  as 
readily  as  the  most  guilty.  We  have  seen  within  a  few 
years  a  tsar  of  Russia  perish  by  assassination,  and  the 
presidents  of  two  republics,  and  the  patriotic  sovereign 
of  Italy,  and  the  amiable  and  politically  irresponsible 
empress  of  Austria.  It  is  clearly  impossible  to  recognize 
any  relation  between  such  tragedies  and  any  clear  poli- 
tical or  patriotic  purpose.  Modern  assassination  has 
its  roots  in  a  vague,  impersonal  rage  against  society, 

3°3 


Westminster  Sermons 

which,  as  it  has  no  specific  justifications,  so  it  keeps  no 
measures,  and  finds  its  victims  at  haphazard,  where 
circumstance  suggests  and  opportunity  enables.  I  would 
not  be  understood  to  deny  that  political  unwisdom  and 
social  disintegration  have  a  direct  influence  on  the 
extent  and  direction  of  assassination,  and  I  would  be 
indeed  sorry  to  minimize  the  solemn  warning  to  all 
rulers  which  such  crimes  undoubtedly  convey ;  still  I 
desire  to  emphasize  the  impersonal  and  unmotived 
character  of  modern  political  murders,  and  to  inquire 
what  may  be  the  causes  from  which  they  spring,  and 
by  what  means  those  causes  may  be  removed. 

Two  conditions  of  modern  life  are  so  important,  and 
so  conspicuous,  that  no  social  student  can  fail  to  take 
them  into  reckoning.    The  first  is  economic,  the  next 
is  moral.    It  would  be  no  untrue  statement  of  the  facts 
to  say,  that  the  economic  development  of  modern  civili- 
zation has  been  uniformly  hostile  to  the  free  play  of 
human  individuality,  while  some  distinctive  circum- 
stances  of  modern   life   have  tended   to  stimulate 
individuality  in  a  marked  degree.    Consider  the  dis- 
crepancy which  has  grown  between  men's  appetites 
and  ambitions,  and  their  means  of  satisfying  either. 
Education  is  more  widely  distributed  than  at  any 
previous  stage  of  civilization,  but  it  has  become  less  an 
instrument  of  moral  discipline  than  a  factor  of  moral 
undiscipline.    The  very  circumstance  that  education  is 
now  universal  has  stripped  the  process,  by  which  men 
are  educated,  of  those  personal  contacts  and  interests 
which  mostly  render  it  disciplinary  in  the  full  sense  of 
the  word.    For  the  numbers  to  be  educated  are  so 
great,  that  no  concentration  of  the  teacher  on  individuals 

304 


Anarchism 

is  really  any  longer  possible,  and  for  the  same  reason 
the  methods  of  teaching  have  become  dangerously 
impersonal  and  non-moral.  Knowledge  thus  acquired 
is  defrauded  of  its  proper  effects  on  character,  and 
rather  fills  the  mind  than  trains  it,  and  kindles  curiosity 
rather  than  develops  understanding.  "  Knowledge 
puffeth  up,  but  love  edifieth,"  said  the  apostle,  and 
the  words  might  describe  the  characteristic  effect  of 
modern  education,  and  at  the  same  time  indicate  its 
cause.  Knowledge,  standing  apart  from  the  humanizing 
influences  of  personal  concern  and  interest,  becomes 
nothing  better  than  so  much  information,  useful  pos- 
sibly, but  neither  morally  strengthening  nor  socially 
valuable.  In  order  that  knowledge  may  become  disci- 
plinary, and  the  instrument  of  a  true  education,  it  must 
proceed  always  with  that  gracious  ally  which  S.  Paul 
calls  love.  And  it  is  this  element  precisely  which  is 
being  rapidly  driven  out  of  the  systems  of  public  educa- 
tion throughout  our  western  world.  This  "  education  " 
with  which  men  are  equipped  stimulates  their  self- 
importance,  exalts  their  self-estimate,  renders  them 
impatient  of  subordination  and  restive  under  hardship, 
inspires  them  with  immense  expectations,  and  fits  them 
for  little  endurance.  They  pass  from  their  schools  and 
colleges  to  a  world  which  does  not  make  much  count  of 
them,  which  has  a  very  humble  theory  of  individual 
worth,  and  provides  very  rigid  grooves  for  the  self- 
expression  of  individuals,  which  exalts  material  forces 
and  belittles  moral  worth,  which  measures  men  in  the 
scales  of  fortune,  and  has  no  respect  for  merit  that  does 
not  succeed.  What  a  tragic  discrepancy  between  theory 
and  fact,  between  the  grandiose  doctrines  of  the  schools 

305  u 


Westminster  Sermons 


and  the  brutal  teachings  of  experience,  between  the 
vainglorious  individualism  of  political  speculation  and 
the  humbling  servitude  of  economic  systems !  For, 
indeed,  the  individual  counts  for  less  and  less  in  the 
economic  process  ;  and  so  far  has  the  belittlement  of 
individuality  advanced,  that  we  seem  to  tremble  on  the 
verge  of  some  great  self-enslavement,  which  shall 
register  and  stereotype  the  final  loss  of  individual 
liberty. 

When  external  circumstances  are  least  favourable  to 
freedom,  there  is  plainly  the  most  imperative  need  of 
that  counteracting  principle  of  self-respect  which 
religion  breathes  into  the  mind.  The  worst  servitude 
is  stripped  of  its  degrading  power  so  long  as  the  flame 
of  a  high  religious  conviction  burns  within  the  human 
breast ;  but  let  that  divine  flame  be  extinguished,  and 
there  is  no  longer  any  restraint  on  the  debasement  of 
servile  conditions.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  second 
grave  demoralizing  factor  of  modern  life.  Religion, 
which  for  us  means  the  religion  of  Christ,  has  lost  its 
hold  over  great  sections  of  the  European  population, 
and  all  the  pretentious  substitutes  for  Christianity 
which  from  time  to  time  have  offered  themselves,  have 
totally  failed  to  fill  its  place.  The  religious  bases  of 
morality  have  been  destroyed,  and  no  sufficient  alter- 
natives have  been  discovered,  so  that  the  morality  of 
countless  multitudes  of  Europeans  and  Americans  has 
no  roots  in  conviction,  no  auxiliaries  in  religious  habit, 
no  sustenance  in  religious  faith.  It  survives  as  a  mere 
convention,  able  to  hold  its  own  in  favourable  circum- 
stances, but  powerless  to  resist  the  corrosive  influences 
of  materialistic  criticism  and  unkindly  fortune.  Thus, 

306 


Anarchism 


in  the  case  of  whole  classes  and  descriptions  of  men, 
we  perceive  this  forlorn  and  miserable  situation.  The 
human  spirit,  subjected  to  the  sorest  strain  of  circum- 
stance, has  no  help  from  within,  and  its  worst  elements, 
disastrously  stimulated  by  the  conditions  of  the  world, 
find  no  restraints  to  hold  them  in  check.  Hence  these 
cruel,  senseless,  futile  crimes,  arresting  the  world's 
notice,  where  the  victims  are  set  on  the  seats  of  autho- 
rity, and  filling  the  records  of  vulgar  scandal,  where 
they  are  wrought  against  the  obscure. 

The  increase  of  crime  is  a  fact  so  well  authenticated 
that  there  is  no  need  for  me  to  enter  on  any  lengthy 
proof.  The  point  which  I  desire  to  press  on  you  is 
that  this  deplorable  fact  has  coincided  with  the  pro- 
vision of  education,  and  largely  with  its  secularization  ; 
that  the  wisest  statesmen  and  social  students  of  Europe 
are  perplexed  by  it ;  that  many  of  them  are  confessing 
themselves  baffled  and  disillusioned ;  that  some  of 
them  are  coming  to  admit  that  religion  is  indispensable 
for  the  moral  training  of  human  beings,  and  that  there 
has  not  yet  been  discovered  any  effective  alternative 
for  Christianity.  I  will  borrow  two  quotations  from  a 
striking  article  on  "Education  and  Crime"  in  the 
current  number  of  The  Church  Quarterly  Review.  The 
first  describes  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  German 
empire,  and  is  from  the  pen  of  a  recognized  German 
authority  on  the  subject : — 

"  The  unpleasant  side  of  this  picture,"  he  says,  "  is  the  simul- 
taneous and  very  general  lowering  of  the  national  standard  ot 
morality.  To  bear  out  this  charge  it  is  but  necessary  to  point  to 
the  official  statistics.  They  show  a  steady  and  enormous  increase 
of  crimes  against  property  and  against  morality  ;  in  the  case  ot 
the  former  there  has  been  since  1870  an  increase  of  500  per  cent., 
and  of  the  latter  the  fourfold  number  is  now  (1903)  being  committed. 


307 


U  2 


Westminster  Sermons 


.  .  .  The  relations  between  the  sexes  have  never  been  in  Germany 
so  far  as  history  teaches  us,  so  lax  as  they  are  to-day." 

The  other  quotation  describes  the  state  of  affairs  in 

France,  and  is  taken  from  the  writings  of  "  a  French 

publicist  of  the  first  rank,  M.  Alfred  Fouillee,"  who 

expressed  himself  thus  in  1897  : — 

"  Crime  has  trebled  among  us  in  the  last  fifty  years,  although  the 
population  has  hardly  increased.  Between  1826  and  1880,  while 
offences  by  adults  trebled  in  number,  those  committed  by  youths 
of  between  sixteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age  quadrupled.  In 
the  period  1880  to  1893  crime  increased  still  more  rapidly  ;  in  ten 
years  the  number  of  criminal  children  increased  by  a  fourth,  while 
that  of  criminal  adults  increased  only  by  a  ninth.  .  .  .  To-day, 
though  the  number  of  children  between  seven  and  sixteen  years  of 
age  is  less  than  seven  millions,  while  there  are  twenty  million 
adults,  the  children  commit  more  than  twice  as  many  offences." 

Germany  and  France  are  not  to  be  thought  of  as 
exceptional ;  the  same  causes  are  inducing  the  same 
results  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  western  civiliza- 
tion, and  this  fearful  crime  at  Lisbon  might  with  equal 
probability  have  happened  in  any  civilized  state.  There  is 
an  unanimity  of  profound  apprehension  among  thought- 
ful men ;  we  cannot  pretend  any  longer  not  to  think 
that  the  various  attempts  to  civilize  and  govern  on  a 
secularist  basis  are  failing  badly  :  it  is  hard  to  avoid  the 
suspicion  that,  on  the  lines  at  present  accepted,  or  on 
the  way  to  gaining  acceptance,  we  are  being  hurried  to 
anarchy  and  disruption. 

I  chose  for  my  text  some  words  of  our  Saviour  Christ, 
which  happened  to  come  into  the  appointed  lesson  for 
this  day.  Let  me  direct  your  attention  to  His  teach- 
ing and  to  its  bearing  on  our  present  theme.  The 
evangelist  relates  that  one  of  the  Pharisees  asked  Christ 
a  question,  with  a  view  to  testing  Him.     "  Master, 

308 


Anarchism 


which  is  the  great  commandment  in  the  law  ?  "  In 
the  questioner's  mouth  the  question  had  no  doubt  a 
very  limited  reference ;  he  would  draw  from  our  Lord 
an  opinion  on  one  of  the  burning  questions  of  the 
religious  schools.  What  kind  of  commandment  ought 
to  be  given  the  first  place  in  the  regard  of  the  faithful 
Jew  out  of  the  mass  of  positive  rules  which  ought 
to  be  selected  for  primary  observance  ?  In  what  order 
of  obedience  ought  the  multitudinous  precepts  of 
rabbinism  to  be  arranged  ?  Our  Saviour  makes 
answer  rather  disconcertingly  by  a  reference  to  the 
words,  familiar  to  every  Jew,  which  were  read  daily 
in  the  temple  at  morning  and  evening  prayer.  "  He 
said  unto  him,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind,  this  is  the  great  and  first  commandment."  He 
adds  a  sentence  from  the  Book  of  Leviticus :  "  And  a 
second  like  unto  it  is  this,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself."  Then  He  universalizes  His  teaching,  and 
makes  His  answer  to  the  petty  question  of  the  lawyer 
a  profound  interpretation  of  religion  on  its  practical 
side.  "  On  these  two  commandments  hangeth  the 
whole  law,  and  the  prophets."  The  famous  Rabbi 
Hillel  had  said  something  very  like  this.  "  What  is 
hateful  to  thee,  do  not  do  to  thy  neighbour.  That  is 
the  whole  law.  All  else  is  commentary  upon  it,"  and 
on  his  lips  the  saying  was  luminous  and  lofty  ;  but  when 
read  in  connection  with  the  long  and  successful  political 
career  of  the  speaker,  it  suggests  rather  a  large  and 
generous  diplomacy  than  the  morality  of  a  deep  and 
affectionate  piety.  On  the  lips  of  Christ  this  summary 
of  practical  religion  is  not  diplomatic  but  religious,  not 

309 


Westminster  Sermons 

a  maxim  of  policy  but  a  law  of  life.     You  cannot 
separate  these  two  commandments,  nor  may  their  order 
be  reversed.    Love  of  God  is  the  foundation  of  that 
love  of  man  which  must  inspire  social  conduct.  Religion 
is  the  basis  of  morality.     From  religion  is  drawn  the 
principle  and  the  sanction  of  the  moral  law  ;  apart  from 
religion  the  moral  law  has  no  true  authority  ;  it  is 
nothing  more  than  a  convention,  powerful,  salutary, 
enforced  by  the  State,  approved  by  public  opinion,  if 
you  will,  but  without  roots  in  the  conscience  itself,  not 
able,  if  need  be,  to  secure  obedience  by  divine  right, 
nor  necessarily  a  power  constantly  creating  and  sustain- 
ing the  sentiment  of  self-respect.    See  how  Christ  holds 
together  the  natural  regard  for  a  man's  self  and  his 
treatment  of  others.     He  does  not  preach  contempt  of 
self,  but  he  ordains  self-regard  to  be  the  ally  and  guide 
of  social  obligation.    This  is  "  the  royal  law  according 
to  the  scripture,"  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself."    Everything  turns,  then,  on  the  estimate  of 
himself  which  a  man  accepts.     Self-respect  draws  in 
its  train  respect  for  others,  a  low  view  of  self  will  be 
revealed  in  a  cynical  disregard  of  others.     But  what 
are  the  postulates  of  self-respect  ?     How  can  a  high 
view  of  self  be  justified  to  the  reason  and  to  the  con- 
science ?    When  circumstances  are  so  degrading ;  when 
the  economic  ordering  of  the  world  is  so  unfavourable 
to  self-expression ;  when  the  scientific  verdict  on  the 
purpose  and  method  of  individual  life  is  so  hostile ; 
when  the  spectacle  of  human  degradation  seems  to  give 
the  lie  to  any  natural  goodness  in  human  nature ;  when 
the  course  of  the  world  seems  to  show  that  morality  is 
a  protean  thing,  the  creature  of  time  and  place,  what 

310 


Anarchism 


shall  hold  any  of  us  back  from  sinking  to  the  service  of 
our  own  swinish  appetites  or  giving  rein  to  the  fierce 
passions  which  inflame  our  minds  ?  The  affirmative 
answers — I  mean  the  answers  which  enable  the  higher 
instincts  of  our  being  to  assert  themselves  triumphantly, 
which  affirm  the  eternal  obligation  of  purity,  righteous- 
ness and  mercy,  which  declare  that  this  world  is  but  a 
passing  show  and  that  beyond  it  is  the  world  of  reality, 
wherein  the  vindications  of  morality  are  found,  that 
whosoever  sets  his  hope  on  goodness  and  follows  it  shall 
not  be  put  to  shame — the  affirmative  answers,  by  which 
the  human  spirit  lives,  are  given,  and  can  only  be  given, 
in  the  terms  of  religion.  "  Faith  is  the  assurance  of 
things  hoped  for,  the  proving  of  things  not  seen." 

This  dreadful  crime  in  Lisbon  cannot  be  wrongly 
regarded  as  one  more,  and  the  most  impressive  imagin- 
able, of  the  "  signs  of  the  times,"  which  (if  but  we  have 
wisdom  rightly  to  read  them)  can  save  us,  while  there 
is  yet  time,  from  cutting  the  national  life  adrift  from  its 
ancient  moorings  in  Christian  faith.  In  mere  inadver- 
tence, because  we  have  not  taken  the  pains  to  under- 
stand the  drift  of  the  policies  we  sanction,  or  still  more 
guiltily,  in  sheer  unwillingness  to  face  the  difficulties  of 
holding  to  the  principles  we  profess,  or,  worst  of  all,  in 
a  temper  of  cynical  pessimism,  because,  forsooth,  we 
despair  of  being  able  to  withstand  the  powerful  currents 
of  selfish  secularism  which  are  now  traversing  Christen- 
dom and  beating  strongly  against  our  shores,  we  may 
bring  upon  our  nation  the  worst  of  all  calamities,  a  bank- 
ruptcy of  character  and  a  failure  of  faith.  It  is  easy  to 
do  this,  most  of  all  easy  for  those  who,  as  professed 
politicians,  are  accustomed,  and  rightly  accustomed, 


Westminster  Sermons 


to  regard  with  jealousy  the  introduction  into  the 
political  arena  of  abstract  and  absolute  propositions, 
and  to  insist  that  the  proper  temper  of  sane  politics  is 
the  elastic  and  accommodating  temper  of  expediency. 
Nevertheless,  the  line  of  least  resistance  is  not  always 
the  most  prudent,  and  it  is  never  the  most  heroic  line 
to  pursue.  There  are  conditions  of  human  action  which 
may  not  be  safely  acquiesced  in ;  there  are  elements  of 
social  life  which  are  equally  essential  and  fragile. 
History  has  lessons  written  in  blood  on  her  pages 
which  may  not  with  impunity  be  ignored,  and  none  is 
more  legibly  inscribed  in  her  record  than  the  danger 
and  folly  of  leaving  out  of  count  the  moral  training  of 
men.  "  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  know- 
ledge ;  but  the  foolish  despise  wisdom  and  instruction." 
The  words  of  ancient  Hebrew  wisdom,  which  we  have 
listened  to  from  the  lectern  this  morning,  seem  to  take 
a  solemn  authentication  from  the  circumstances  in  which 
we  now  stand.  We  know  who  they  are  whose  teaching 
conceals  the  purpose  of  murder  beneath  a  pompous 
parade  of  altruistic  phrases,  promising  material  well- 
being  as  the  guerdon  of  moral  licence :  "  Let  us  lay 
wait  for  blood,  let  us  lurk  privily  for  the  innocent  with- 
out cause  ;  we  shall  find  all  precious  substance,  we  shall 
fill  our  houses  with  spoil ;  thou  shalt  cast  thy  lot  among 
us :  we  will  all  have  one  purse  :  My  son,  walk  not  thou 
in  the  way  with  them  ;  refrain  thy  foot  from  their  path  ; 
for  their  feet  run  to  evil,  and  they  make  haste  to  shed 
blood."  The  language  of  the  wise  man  accords  rarely  with 
our  mood  to-day ;  and  we  cannot  but  read  into  it  our 
own  fears  and  sorrows.  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 
bour as  thyself,"  says  Christ,  giving  us  thus  a  short  and 


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Anarchism 

sufficient  test  by  which  to  try  the  policies  of  our  own 
time  and  to  prove  the  worth  of  our  own  morality.  Yes, 
and  not  less  the  sincerity  of  our  own  religion,  for,  as 
the  apostle  says,  "  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom 
he  hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not 
seen  ?  " 


BRADBURY,  AGNEW  &   CO    LTD.,  PRINTERS,  LONDON   AND  TONBRIDGE. 


Date  Due 

rmJM*  if  1 

9 

